


Complete

by Zuzuma



Category: Undertale (Video Game), Undertale AU - Fandom
Genre: Damaged Palette, Depression, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Drama, Getting over tragedy, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Other, Palette and Goth are adults but they can no longer age, Physical Disability, Very depressing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2020-09-23 22:24:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20347783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zuzuma/pseuds/Zuzuma
Summary: After a devastating tragedy, Palette is forced to stay in the 'Save Screen' with his now husband Goth, for if he ever left he would die. If that's not enough, he stills has to get over the mental and emotionally damages done to him while he tries his best to live the rest of his life in 'peace'.





	1. A Revisit to Memory Lane

**Author's Note:**

> This is a series. How long it'll be I do not know. 
> 
> Also, Goth is never aging while Palette, even though he is mentally older, is still in a adolescent body. They are also married. If this still bothers you, leave.

He opened his eye slowly as he became more aware of the fact that he was no longer sleeping. He was facing Goth, who was beside him sleeping as well. Gothy, his pet name for his husband, was asleep in on top of the covers and still in his work clothes, unlike Palette who was underneath the covers and in his boxers. ‘_I guess he was too tired to do anything else and just flopped on the bed._’ Palette watched with a smile as Gothy breathed in and out slowly with a cute expression on his face, like nothing bad could ever happen. ‘_But something bad did happen, remember?_’

Palette frowned at the thought. He quickly shifted away from Gothy and got out of bed, in hopes of not disturbing him too much. He limped to the bathroom without too much trouble this time and faced the mirror, frowning at what was reflected. Most of the left side of his skull was gone, along with the eye socket that was once there. A small part of his mouth was disintegrated that help complete his smiles, making it hard to chew his foods. His entire left arm and the most of his ribcage were nowhere to be found while there was only a small fragment of his left clavicle and left scapula remaining. Most of pelvis had remained intact however it was severely damaged around the illum and tail bone area. His left leg was fractured all the way through, from the neck of the femur all the way to the talus of the foot and he would always limp on it. The edges of his entire body that were damaged were burnt and rigid, perhaps even sharp. He didn’t like much clothing around these parts of his body because they always tore open the cloth and even pulled on his bones. Palette was very sore in said places and sometimes it hurt when Gothy hugged him, however he never said it out loud.

Despite all of this, the most damaged part of Palette was his soul. About half of it was gone, while the rest of it was severely fractured and crack throughout, ready to shatter into pieces. The light that his soul bore was now dim, as though it was ready to shut off for good.

Many people said he was lucky to be alive, that it was a miracle.

It wasn’t.

What had happened was no miracle.

They had been best friends since…to Palette it felt like forever. He loved spending time with Gothy despite his silent nature, all offensive jokes on misery and despair, and the poor outlook on life itself. To Palette, there was a special part of Goth that radiates a brilliance that even Palette could not ignore. Perhaps it was the way he smiled when he was delighted, or even the small giggles he made when he was amused. Maybe it was Goth’s laugh when he was truly happy. Either way, Palette found that he enamored Goth very much, which is why he confessed his feelings to him.

At first, Goth made fun of Palette for any as such, which was typical of him, but the words that were said did leave a somewhat bitter feeling in his soul that Palette did not like at all. Then he tried once more but Goth merely interrupted him with a completely different topic, leaving Palette confused for a brief while. After the third time, Goth merely said “no” to him. This had made Palette angry. Palette started yelling and screaming at Goth because of this, with tears flowing from his eyes and no clue as to what he was actually saying. Then he ran off to somewhere, to where he couldn’t remember now. He sat there, wept in sorrow. He couldn’t understand why Goth wouldn’t love him back then. He had honestly thought something was terribly wrong with him. Goth eventually found him, through Ink and Dream’s help.

He explained that things weren’t the same for him and Goth, love wasn’t possible. Palette would eventually die of age, while Goth was…ageless. Things made more sense as Goth explained things to Palette as he calmed down, but still…did it matter in the end? He still cared for Goth…so was it possible? Was there a way for them to be happy together? There had to be a way! Palette believed it with all his soul. How naïve he was back then, to think of such fairy tale endings…

It happened on their first date. Goth was dressed in a nice outfit with a white hoodie as to not appear so suspicious while Palette wore his best clothes; however both had their obvious scarves to show off. They mostly did their usual activities when they hangout often, but there was some exceptions; for example, Palette paying for the ice cream, lunch, and…well… everything else. They did watch a romantic chick-flick/horror movie to which Palette tried to make his move twice but became too nervous to pull it off. Finally, it was nearing the end of the day, to which Palette was planning to watch the sunset with Goth and maybe even try to make up for his loss in the movie theatre…but as they walk along the sidewalk Palette began to notice smoke up ahead. A fire truck roared past them and headed in that direction, to which Goth calmly said, “It’s probably one of the buildings on fire. We shouldn’t get involved.”

“But…,” Palette had said, thinking the worst. What if he could help? What if there was something he could have done? There was probably humans and monsters trapped in that building too! What if they needed saving?! He should have listened to Goth. He shouldn’t have gotten involved. Why didn’t he just walk away? Cause it wasn’t the right thing to do?

‘_And look what happened. A mess has occurred. An ugly, hideous mess is what happened.’ _

Palette knew he had to get there and help. He told Goth to stay and that he was sorry for ending the date so soon. Then, he took off toward the direction of the upcoming commotion with Goth screaming out for him to stop. As Palette saw the situation, he saw the state the poor state of which building was currently in; it honestly looked like it was going to fall down. Firefighters were dragging many victims out of the buildings while ambulances were coming and going. The flames were burning hot even though Palette was not near the fire. He heard some firefighters beside him, saying things like, “there’s more survivors upstairs!” “There’s no way we can reach them though” “Get the ladder!” “Clear out of the building it’s going to collapse!” Palette was horrified when he heard this, but foolishly ran inside in hopes to help those victims.

He ran through the flames at the front door and started climbing the stairs, leaping from the one edge of the gap in the stairs to another, hearing for any signs of distress or help. He tried to keep his clothes from burning from the flying embers and the roaring flames while covering his face from the smoke. Then he heard it. The small cries for help. He followed the noises to a door that was barricaded on his side. He removed the debris as fast as he could, then rammed into the burnt door, thus breaking it open. Once opened, he saw two young human girls face him: one that was a toddler hugging onto another that was around his age that seemed to be protecting her. “C’mon!” he hollered in panic, taking his scarf and jacket off. The older girl immediately took the jacket and covered the little girl, picked her up and covered her head with the scarf. “Thank you,” she said with worry, “but how are we going to get out of here?”

“It’s okay! Just hold on to me-“, Palette had started to say but he felt the ground starting to give way underneath them. He quickly grabbed them and started running back out, but the stairs back down was breaking apart and burning to ash. He had to go upward, and he dragged the girls with him. The amount smoke in the building was increasing the higher they went, and it was suffocating even to Palette. “Don’t breathe in the smoke!” he cried out, but the floor was giving way faster than all three of them could run. The walls bucked inward and apart and soon the entire building was falling down on top of them…crushing them…burning them alive…

“Paly baby, what’s wrong?” The familiar voice brought him back to the present. To what was happening now, or what was left of his reality? Palette realized he was looking into the mirror once more, crying tears again over something that couldn’t be stopped now. Goth ran quickly to hug him from behind and only then did he realize that he was shaking all over. “You were thinking about it again, weren’t you?” Goth asked. Palette didn’t want to answer, mostly because he knew he would upset Gothy again and they would argue once more about it. Then what? It wouldn’t lead to anywhere. Instead, he just exhaled and leaned against Goth, snuggled against Goth’s cheek with what was left of his face. Gothy held onto Palette and cuddled back, saying small suggestions like “You’re getting shaky, let’s get you back to bed” and “It’s probably a good idea for you to get some rest, okay?” In truth, Palette was too anxious to rest as his body jerked from head to toe. Nevertheless, he let Gothy lead him out of the bathroom and tuck him back in the bed.

“Do you need some more medicine?” Gothy asked. Palette nodded, just barely watching Gothy go through the drawers. Instead, he focused more on the events of the fire…why didn’t he just grab those two girls and just teleport anywhere? Even with the little control he had of his teleportation, they would have escaped though! They would have still been alive if he didn’t hesitate but…he did nothing and now they’re dead! And him…his body…he would be dead too if it wasn’t for Gothy…but…what good is it now?!

“Hey! HEY! Paly! Stop that!” Gothy shouted out, lightly shaking Palette out of his traumatic state. Palette looked at Gothy for a moment before looking at the medicine in Gothy’s right hand and the glass of water in left hand. After helping Palette with the medicine, Goth got some clothes out of the closet, kissed Palette gently on the mouth, and went in the bathroom to take a shower. Palette listened closely to sound of the water going in the shower before feeling the medicine taking effect, slowly drifting off to sleep as he remember the painful screams of that fateful day.

* * *

Goth felt the warm water hit his bones, relaxing him and putting him at ease which he needed after everything that just happened. He needed to calm down as well, plus get ready to take his shift, which was within another hour or so. Goth didn’t mean to go to sleep like that in his clothes and now he had to get an early shower so that he wouldn’t be late. ‘_It’s ironic, isn’t it? The void in which we live in may not have the concept of time, but it still flies so fast if you’re not careful.’_

The void, or as others would more accurately call the ‘Save Screen’, is where they live now.

Together.

Him and Palette…his husband now.

‘_Still not used to the idea that I’m married, even though it has been long time… five years at least?’_

It didn’t help that they still look like children: Goth had stopped growing when he reached ten years old…but Palette still had his young adolescent body since he entered the Save Screen. ‘_At least he’s not dead…right?’_ Sometimes Goth wasn’t even so sure anymore, with the recurring nightmares and trauma that they both experienced. True, they enjoyed their company very much and loved each other…but it wasn’t the same as it once was. Then again, his parents warned them of such; that once they got married that it would never be the same. It was just one of many warnings that they were given about what was to come.

Goth soon realized that the water was freezing and that the hot water ran out. He rinsed off quickly and got out, his head being foggier than before his shower. As he dried off, his mind wandered off to that day…the day he ‘saved’ Palette. He had chased Palette all the way to the fire, even though he knew where it was. He hoped that Palette had not gone in when he arrived yet he stood there though, waiting for the heroic exit that Palette should have made, maybe carrying a victim or two, having not been hurt the entire time.

However, it did not happen that way. The building collapsed, almost so instantly that Goth didn’t have much time to process the information given to him; when he did, he fell to his knees and cried out in anguish. He’s whole body trembled as he realized that the one person he could ever love without fault was dead. It was almost a poetic sign to him…that he could never be happy. This is why didn’t want to go out with Palette. Why he didn’t want Palette to love him…because it would break him on the inside. It was like he was cursed, and because of that curse Palette was gone.

_ ‘Not yet. He’s not dead yet, and you know why’ _a voice inside in spoke out. Goth stopped sobbing for just that one moment when a thought came to him. That one thought that brought some amount of hope to him. ‘_Where is Dad?’ _For a second, Goth felt a spark of determination in him as he looked around. Normally, he could sense his dad whenever they were in the same AU, mostly because Goth himself had the same powers as he did, just on a significantly weaker level. Right now…he couldn’t feel his dad’s presence.

Goth got to his feet and ran to the remaining debris, while other monsters and humans yelling at him to stop, with one goal in mind; _‘Save Palette, and get there before Dad does!’_ Goth couldn’t remember how long he was in rubble, pushing through the dirt, dust, and ash before he felt it…Palette’s soul resonating with the will to live. He had ran to the spot where he was sure Palette would be, digging through the wood and concrete, until his eyes laid on Palette’s frame.

Palette was still dusting away, part of his body already disappearing, while holding the hand of one of the dead human girls. Both of them mostly smashed to pieces. Gothy felt like throwing up at the horrific bloody sight, the first time he ever felt this feeling about any form death at all. He knew why though as he stared at Palette’s decaying form. Digging and pushing away the obstacles, he managed to uncover Palette’s body enough to pull him out gently, holding him dearly and closely to his body.

“Paly?” Goth said softly, hoping for an answer, but Palette’s eyes did not open; worse was that he was dusting away…from the left side as it was the most damaged. Goth’s eyes began to tear up again as he said, “Oh Paly”, realizing that maybe he was too late. He soon felt a familiar presence that he feared right now, for Palette’s sake, as a shadow covered both of them. Goth turned behind him and faced his dad, Death, with pain in his eyes. Death’s eyes only reflected back the harsh truth of reality.

“Please…spare him…”

“You know I can’t”

“But…”

“He is no different than anyone else, Goth. Even if he was, nobody escapes me in the end.”

“…Mom did”

And just like that, Death relaxed his gaze on Goth before turning his body away. Goth cried out in a pleading voice, “Please…I need him…like you need Mom…”

“…You have thirty minutes”

Goth was confused at first, but Death explained, “But you must know that once you take him _there_, he can never leave for he will surely die.”

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Goth was startled by the noise, his mind brought back to the present. The annoying wake call from his alarm told him that he needed to get up and get ready for his shift. Goth quickly ran over, clutching his bath towel to his body, to turn the alarm off before it bothered Palette. After he done that, he went to his closet, opened it up, and noticed that more of his clothes were cleaned and either folded or hung up nicely. ‘_Despite being in pain, Palette tries his best to help out. Maybe he’ll feel better eventually and realize that everything can be alright, even though it isn’t perfect. Then he’ll be happy again.’_

Goth smiled at this thought, and looked back at his husband, who was smiling peacefully this time. He knew Geno, his mother, had his difficulties when he was first trapped here. Once Geno met Death, he…was not very pleased to say in the least however he did not become as depressed and lonely as he once was. Over time though, through the constant company that Death brought (and the sex), Geno found happiness and peace. He even had his own house with Death where he can cozy it however he pleases, while Palette and Goth had their own house for their privacy; this was thanks to Ink and his ‘imagination’, ‘creativity’, and ‘willingness to break some rules of reality’.

‘_Maybe Mom can help Paly somehow…I’ll ask him later,’_ Goth thought as he got his clothes on, his stuff ready, and kissed Palette gently on the forehead before warping out.


	2. Dinner, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ink and Dream decided to visit their son...while bringing their new boyfriends with them...hooray...

“PALETTE!”

Palette looked up from what he was doing, which was sweeping the kitchen floor. It was a small enough area so Palette could do it often and not overwork himself. It was hard to do with one hand but most of the time he had managed; however he stopped immediately as he saw Goth run through the front door, fasten all the locks, and leaned with his back against the door, as if he was trying to keep something out.

“I fucked up Paly,” Goth said, his eye-lights shrunk to show how much fear was in them.

“Wh-what happened Goth?” Palette asked as he limped from the kitchen to the living room, which wasn’t that much bigger, worry filling his voice.

“I invited both of your parents over for dinner by accident.”

“…I though you loved me?” Palette said bitterly, remembering the last time both of his dads showed up for a visit. It was awful to say in the least. It started with a dry comment from Ink, followed by an angry remark from Dream, and then a very loud argument occurred. Both got so mad at each other that they decided right there and then they were getting a divorce, which upset Palette to say in the least. That was about three years ago and really the last time Palette either saw or spoke to them. Since then, no one blamed Palette for getting upset and not wanting anything to do with his parents, but Goth’s side of the family still tried to encourage some kind of communication between the three of them. There wasn’t much success yet.

“I didn’t mean to!” Goth cried out, in full-fledge panic, “I just happen to come across Ink and we got to talking a bit and he said he wanted to check on the house and see how it was and I said ‘Fine’, but then he got excited and said something about bringing his boyfriend and their kid and…uhh…” Palette looked straight at Goth the minute the word ‘boyfriend’ was said, disbelief filling his face.

“Boyfriend? And their ‘kid’?” Palette asked, his eye just twitching a little bit.

“…Maybe…they’re talking about PJ?” Goth said warily. Palette shrugged his shoulders, as he remembered being around PJ, also known as PaperJam, before the incident. He was made by accident through Ink’s and Error’s clashing magic, something that really couldn’t be helped. He tried being friends with PJ a few times but the loner never wanted anything to do with Palette.

“…I guess…My dad is dating Error?!” Palette cried out in shock and frustration as he realized whom they were talking about.

“Don’t take it out on me! I just found out too!”

Palette let out an exasperated sigh and then went to sit in the loveseat they owned. Just the thought that Ink, his dad, was dating someone else was hard to believe, but the very idea of Ink dating Error, literally the enemy of all creation, was something out of his range of comprehension. The two always despised each other before so why were they dating now?

“Alright, how does Dream fit into this? You said they were both coming,” Palette asked, hoping to move away from that particular topic as he rubbed his temple gently.

“Ah…well, I met up with Dream just a little while later and he asked how you were doing…and I told him that everything was okay and that…well…”

“You didn’t tell him that Ink was coming by, did you?”

“I…did,” Goth said in defeat, wincing at the look that Palette gave him, and also remarked, “and he said just wanted to come by and check on you…with his boyfriend too…”

“Excuse me?!” Palette was enraged now.

“Don’t kill the messenger!” Goth said with his hands up in a defensive position; however Palette wasn’t angry at Goth. He was angry at his parents…for even doing this to him. They don’t talk for years and now they show up with new boyfriends?! And how were they going to make dinner so soon? When was dinner exactly?! There is no time in the Save Screen so it could be anywhere from now to a few hours! What were they even going to have for dinner anyway?!

“Paly! Baby! Breathe!” he heard Gothy say, and he realized that his body was jerking. He took in deep breaths to calm himself and then looked at his husband, who was now sitting beside him and smiling soothingly, rubbing Palette’s shoulder in an effort to calm him down. “It’s going to be okay. It’s one dinner. Think of it like this; it’s our house and, if they misbehave, we can kick them out.”

Palette smiled back, and rested his head on one of Goth’s shoulders, sighing softly. He then asked, “Who’s the other boyfriend?”

“It’s _Cross_.”

“…That bully? Why is Dream dating him? Doesn’t he know that Cross is a…a…”

“An asshole, my innocent Paly”

“…Yeah.”

There was a knock on the front door, to which Goth and Palette tensed when they heard it. Then, Goth asked cautiously, “Who is it?”

“It’s your mother, Goth! Now open up!”

Relieved sighs came from the both of them as Goth got up, unlocked the door, and opened it to find Geno standing there with some food already prepared, specifically spaghetti casserole. Goth looked curiously at his mother however Geno barged in and said, “You father told me that you just told him about Ink and Dream coming to dinner, so I figured you two were probably panicking instead of getting ready.”

“…You guessed right,” Palette said with a relieved smile.

“Well, let’s get things ready for them,” Geno declared as he set the food he brought on the table in the kitchen; however Goth stood there, shocked, and asked, “Wait, you’re helping?”

Geno turned around to face Goth, while tying a basic red apron on, and said, “Duh. It’s not every day your in-laws come to visit and, let’s face it, you need all the help you can get.”

* * *

With Geno’s help, all the food was cooked and the table was set-up for nice family dinner. Goth and Palette were more than thankful for Geno’s help, since Goth couldn’t cook for the life of him and Palette had a harder time cooking big meals with one arm. They had prepared a taco meal since nobody could deny tacos, which Geno had learned to make from Blue; only Geno’s version was not only edible but delicious. Palette and Geno set up the dinner area where everyone could make whatever kind of taco they wanted, with some different types of salads that Palette managed to whip up and the other dishes that Geno brought. Goth, who had no ability to cook just like Death, was busy tidying up the living room area, making it presentable.

The living room and the kitchen were practically connected. The only thing separating the two rooms was a counter, decorated only with an aloe plant. The living room consisted of mostly dark brown colors with a few white accent items to give it some life. There was a couch with a low table in front of it, two lounge chairs, and a loveseat to sit in. There was a small flat screen hanging up on the wall with an entertainment center underneath it. The T.V was located front of the couch, but in the opposite direction of where the lounge chairs and loveseat was facing.

The kitchen was mostly yellow in color, with whites and oranges mixed in. The counter appliances were in an assortment of colors though and it offset the entire color scheme. The table sat right in the middle of the kitchen, a little too big for the kitchen as it was hard to walk around, especially for Palette. The rest of the rooms of the house were located down the hall, which started at the kitchen.

Soon Death entered, with different arrangement of sodas and many paper plates and cups, so the kids didn’t have so much to clean up. He was mostly carrying it in with his magic instead of touching them. “I’ve brought drinks!” he announced with a grin, and then added with his normal tone of voice, “nothing alcoholic, unfortunately. I can go back out and get some.”

“Thank you Dad, and please don’t. The evening is going to be stressful enough as it is. We don’t need to add beer to the mix,” Goth said as he quickly grabbed the stuff and toted it into the kitchen, with Death remarking, “I was going to suggest fine wine but so be it.” Then Death sat down in one of the two lounge chairs that the boys owned, however Geno walked over quickly and slapped him on the back of the head, saying, “Go help your son!”

“Aww. I’m tired, Geno…you look nice in that apron though.” Geno made no comment as he went back to the kitchen; however it was very apparent that Death was staring at Geno’s butt the entire time Geno walked away.

With Death’s help, Goth managed to make the living room and kitchen very nice and the rest of the house suitable for company, however Goth and Palette hoped nobody would be taking a tour of the house in any circumstance. When the two got done, Geno was setting down some melted cheese in a fondue pot on the table, a candle still lit underneath it.

“Did you clean everything?” Geno asked, hurrying and checking on the meat, to which the two replied, “Yes”.

“Even the guest bathroom?” Geno asked, stirring the meat in the frying pan. “Especially there,” Goth replied, noticing that Palette was not in the room. “Do you know where Palette is?”

“Yeah. He had to lay down a little bit. He was shaking real badly before I told him to leave the rest to me.”

“Okay. Thanks Mom” Goth said before rushing upstairs to check on him. It would be bad if they did all of this and Palette wasn’t able to join them. Just as he suspected, Palette was lying down, shaking and crying from the pain. Goth quickly went to his side and asked, “Did you take your medicine?”

“N-N-No…I-I couldn’t fi-find it” Palette stuttered out. Goth started looking around and noticed the medicine bottle on the dresser. He quickly got it and opened it, getting a glass of water from their bathroom, and gave the pill to Palette. Palette quickly popped it in his mouth and drank the water quickly, some of it spilling on the sheets due to his lop-sided mouth and constant shaking. Goth put the stuff away and left the medicine bottle on Palette’s nightstand, so he could get to it easily should he need more. Then he gently rubbed Palette’s arm, hoping to calm him down. Palette was taking deep breaths to help, and soon the shaking wasn’t as bad. Goth leaned down and gently kissed the top of Palette’s head and said, “I’ll let you know when they get here. Just shout if you need anything.”

“Okay,” was all Palette said, still having tears in his eyes. Goth knew there was nothing else he could do for Palette…and, as much as he would want to cuddle his husband, he knew his parents were still downstairs, trying to get things ready. It wouldn’t be fair to leave the rest to them, so Goth let Palette be and left the room.

It was about another hour later before knocking was heard on the door. Death went to answer it, and saw that it was Ink and Error. Before either of them got a word out, Death looked at Geno with confusion on his face. “Come on in, you two! We’ve been expecting you!” Geno said. He appeared to be in a good mood despite how tired he was. While Error and Ink walked in, Death, however, got away from the door and asked Goth quietly, “Are we expecting Error?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you know?”

“Well, all I knew was that you were panicking about Ink and Dream coming over.”

“Oh…in that case you might want to know that Ink and Error are dating as well.”

“Seriously?”

“We can hear you!” Error shouted at them as he plopped down in one of the chairs in the living room while Ink ran off to the kitchen to speak with Geno. When Ink saw the food, he reached out to get some however Geno smacked his hand. “Why?” Ink whined, as though he was a toddler.

“You will wait for the others to show up.”

“…Fine. Where’s Pal?”

“He’s upstairs.”

“Didn’t he know we were coming?” Error asked, making Goth angry; luckily for Error, Death intervened and pulled Goth back, saying, “Yep, but he got sick so he’s resting.”

“Sheesh. How bad of shape is he in?” Error remarked, pulling off his scarf and leaving it on the floor while putting his feet up on the small table. “Bad shape,” Goth said as he grabbed the scarf and hung it on the coat hanger. He then felt something hit him and realized that Error threw his coat at him. He glared at Error but hang the coat up regardless.

‘_I really don’t like this guy.’_

“I’m going to check up on Palette real quick and let him know you’ve arrived.”

Goth quickly headed upstairs before anyone could say anything else. He peeked through the door and saw that Palette was resting well, still awake and aware as he stared at his husband with a smile. Goth returned the smile and walked all the way in. “Hey Paly, Ink is here…and Error too.”

“Okay. Can you help me real quick? I think that I need to change clothes. I’m pretty sure that these are soaked with my sweat.”

“Sure Paly.”

Goth got out some of Palette’s old and classic but nice clothes that was fixed up to suit Palette’s body better, and helped Palette change into them since he couldn’t fit in them fully. Normally, Palette would wear sweats or loose mismatched clothing and slippers so it was a nice change to see him in this. Goth couldn’t help but stare at Palette a little bit, reminiscing the first time he saw Palette in this outfit. The soldier’s hat was worn out badly and the material around his coat was thinning out, but Palette could never part with it. Goth was thinking about how nice it would be to get another set like them, maybe in different colors until Palette looked at him with a questioning look. The two just stared a little before smiling at each other. “Looking good, handsome.”

“Hush Gothy,” Palette said with a blush.

“C’mon, let’s get you downstairs before the others get curious,” Goth said. Palette did groan a little, but retained his happy features as they walked down the stairs together.

“Hey Pal! How are you doing, sweetie?” Ink cried out as soon as he saw Palette, and thus ran up to hug him. Once he did, Palette groaned a little in pain while Goth winced at the sight. “…OH! Sorry Pal!” Ink said once he realized that he was hurting Palette and he let go of his son quickly. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“It’s okay…” Palette said quietly while he shrugged it off, while Goth patted his back softly.

“Well, how about we sit down and chat for a while?” Geno suggested, who appeared to have finished the dinner and was washing the kitchen up.

“Let me do that Mom, you go and sit with Paly and Dad for a bit,” Goth said quickly, gently taking the rag from his mother’s hand and resuming where the other left off.

“Oh. Well thank you Goth. I think I’ll take you up on that.” While Goth took over cleaning up, Geno went over and sat down in the loveseat while Death sat down and snuggled beside him. Palette sat in the other chair that was not in use. Ink just unceremoniously plopped down and took up the entire couch with his body. “H-Hey Dad” Palette started, trying to get Ink’s attention before continuing. “Please take your feet off the couch. They’re a little dirty…” Ink looked at him for a moment and realized what he meant. Ink’s feet were absolutely filthy and needed a good scrubbing. Geno wouldn’t have let Ink inside his house like that; funny enough, it looked as though Geno was getting ready to kick Ink out of this house. Luckily for Ink, Death had a good grip on Geno.

“Okay. Error, you too.” Ink said this as he sat up and put his feet on the ground.

“Ex-excuse me?” Error asked, obviously caught off guard by this.

“Take your feet off the table, and then put your shoes at the door. We don’t want to track dirt throughout the house.”

“But…”

Ink glared at Error, which convinced Error to do what he said. This kind of made the situation awkward since Palette and Geno still had their shoes on. Death was smiling because he was always barefoot. Goth heard the conversation clearly, since the kitchen was adjoining the living room, but he wasn’t about to do or say anything about it when he finished cleaning. He joined Palette at the chair and sat on the arm, leaning over Palette rather comfortably. After Error put his shoes at the door, Ink grabbed Error’s hand and dragged him to the couch to sit instead of the chair he was previously in. Error was visibly upset by this but did not say anything as Ink forced Error to sit beside him. This made things much more uncomfortable.

“So…how have you been?” Ink started, his face beaming with excitement. Palette looked at Goth and said, “Well…we’re managing just fine…but I still get…um… ‘spells’ from time to time.”

“So the ‘Save Screen’ keeps you from dying but other stuff still happens to you?” Error asked, rather bluntly.

“Um…yeah…I won’t die but I am still ‘dying’,” Palette explained as he held his hand with one of Goth’s. Error looked over at Reaper and asked, “How…does that work?”

“Same with Geno. He’s in mid process of dusting, obvious from his missing body parts”, Death explained. “Only with Palette, there’s no way of recovering. I’ve tried healing Geno before and it helps out, but, with Palette, healing can only do so much without stressing the soul out too much.”

“Um…how?” Error asked, becoming more intrigue by this. By no means did anyone think Error was an idiot, but Error was always curious about things that were beyond his range of knowledge.

“Healing forces the body to regenerate at a faster pace, either by lending magic to the victim or by forcing the damaged person to recover on their own. Either way, that causes the owner’s soul to work harder to recover, thus ‘stressing’ the soul’s vitality. Sometimes the soul can’t handle being healed, as it’s too weak to focus on regeneration.”

“Thus causing the soul to break” Error finished, clearly thinking about what Death had just said.

“Correct. I think a lot of it has to do with Palette not having as much ‘Determination’ in his body as Geno too but that’s my hypothesis.”

“…Yeah…so I can’t be healed…” Palette confirmed, using a melancholy tone that Goth knew all too well. So Goth decided to change the subject. “So…how did you first actually meet Error, Ink?”

“Oh that. I don’t remember. Do you remember Error?”

“Nope. All I remember is that he’s a constant pain in my ass,” Error replied while rolling his eyes.

“Literally!” Ink chimed in, causing Error to flinch. The room got quiet from this disturbing change of conversation before Goth resumed. “Well, what made you two decide to…date?”

“Umm…I dunno. I think someone just spread some rumor that we were a couple and…well…I don’t think we ever denied it. Eventually we started dating anyway. So, I guess it was somebody’s lies that brought us to actually dating,” Ink explained.

“…Pretty much,” Error confirmed, warily watching Ink as the paint skeleton might say something else to embarrass him. Death grinned and said, “I remember when Geno and I started dating. It was that first Christmas party that happened here, and I found out that I couldn’t kill anyone here. I was intrigued with the fact that I could touch someone without killing them.”

“More than intrigued,” Geno remarked, however he had a playful smile on his face.

“…Okay, more than intrigued. To be fair though, you were severely drunk,” Death said to Geno, which caused Geno to blush. “The punch was spiked! We all knew this!”

“And yet you kept drinking it,” Death said, pinching Geno’s cheek. Everyone in the room laughed at this while Geno playfully pushed Death away. Error looked at Palette and asked, “What about you?”

“Eh?” Palette asked, a little confused by what Error asked.

“How did you end up dating Goth?”

Ink literally elbowed Error in the side and glared at him, confusing Error immensely. Goth felt something get stuck in his throat when he heard that question, remembering the event of their first date all too well. Palette was quiet for a bit, while Death and Geno looked away from the kids. Finally, Palette answered. “Before our first date, I’ve had feelings for Goth for a long time. I fell in love with him before we even started dating really.”

Goth smiled at Palette, their hands gripping each other tighter than before. Palette looked back at Goth lovingly and said, “I just felt that we were meant to be.”

_‘Yes…but why did you have to suffer so much just to be with me.’_

There was knocking on the door that interrupted this moment. “I’ll get it,” Geno said as he got up and walked to the door and opened it. Standing at the doorway was Paperjam, however Goth barely recognized him.

The last time Goth had saw Paperjam was...definitely over ten years ago…maybe even over fifteen years? Paperjam was a full-fledge adult, and even handsome to boot (not that Goth was attracted to him). He looked far more mature than he used to, and even tired looking which might’ve indicate that he wasn’t getting enough rest. His coat and scarf was much longer and now he wore pants instead of the boyish shorts that he used to wear.

“Paperjam? Is that you?” Palette asked, in disbelief as PJ came inside the house.

“Um, yeah I guess. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Paperjam shyly said, rubbing the back of his head nervously. He noticed that Error’s shoes were by the door, so he took off his shoes and left by the door without being told. “Is it alright if I sit?” PJ asked.

“Help yourself. Still waiting for the others to show up,” Goth said, gesturing to the couch from where he sat. PJ nodded and sat down on the other side of Ink, which he exchange quick glances at Error before he turned to Palette and asked, “How have you been?”

“I’ve been…good. You?”

“Um…yeah…yeah, I’m good. Um…been busy and all but I heard about you from Ink and I thought…I thought maybe I should come over with Error and Ink for dinner.”

_‘It’s obvious that PJ is nervous. I suppose that’s normal…considering that he and Palette didn’t get along too well in the past, despite being ‘brothers’. Still, I have to wonder why he is here now.’_

“PJ is married now too, just like you two!” Ink announced gleefully, which caught PJ off guard. “Um…yeah. I’m married now too…like Ink said.”

“Oh? You have to tell me who the lucky person is,” Palette said with a smile.

“Um…their name is Omni.”

“Omni?” Death said, a little puzzled before asking. “You mean Omnipotent Sans?” PJ looked at him, shook his head and said, “Different Omni. The one I’m talking about is a Pluris.”

“Ah” Death said, although Geno looked more perplexed by this statement. Death turned to Geno and said, “In other words, not a ‘Sans’. More or less genetic material with a conscious. They can copy any form that they are comfortable with. I don’t know much more than that but I had to reap many of them before I met you.” Geno nodded in a little more understanding, but Goth was still mystified by this and he could tell that Palette was too.

“I even got a kid. His name is Monochrome.”

“You got pictures?” Geno asked with excitement, to which PJ nodded. He took out his wallet and passed out pictures that he had stored in there to the AfterDeath family. Death and Geno took the pictures first and looked at them with interest before Geno passed some over to Goth and Palette to look at. PJ’s kid, Monochrome, looked like a good well behaved child…but there was another creature in some of the pictures. It appeared to be a pluris, which seemed different in several pictures (sometimes a purple tone skeleton, sometimes a spider, and sometimes appearing like PJ), but wore the same clothing type regardless so it was a bit easier to identify them.

_‘This must be Omni then…maybe? The forms are so different and diverse that it’s hard to tell. That must be the power of the pluris then…to blend in and avoid detection from enemies while mingling in the world to survive. ’_

“Wow. He is so cute, PJ. Didn’t expect that from you,” Goth remarked, not even mentioning Omni as he felt that PJ would be ready to talk about them when he felt more comfortable. PJ was stunned at first, then remarked with a smirk, “Oh really? What did you expect then?”

“A bottle of paint that said ‘Help Me’ on it. What did you think I meant? I’m just saying you got a really cute kid despite…all of this going on,” Goth said, gesturing to all of PJ.

“Haha…yeah…I never expected to have any type of kid to be honest.”

“So…where is he now?” Palette asked.

“Oh, he’s with his mom now,” PJ quickly answered, and then stared at his hands as he continued. “I travel a lot nowadays, so it’s just easier on him that I visit instead of dragging him along.”

“Oh…okay then. No problem,” Palette said, perhaps sensing PJ’s discomfort.

“Don’t worry about it PJ. I’m sure he understands. Dad still works a ton of hours that he can’t help but that makes time with him a lot more special” Goth explained.

“Sure. Dream and I weren’t there a lot either but Palette turned out to be a good kid in the end,” Ink said, patting PJ on the back. Goth paused, knowing that Ink and Dream was not a big part of Palette’s life either…but it felt more to him that they abandoned him more than anything else. _‘At least I always had somebody watching out over me…’_ He remembered all the times that Palette would come over…alone and sometimes scared…just wanting somebody to be with him. Palette would often sleep over in the void with Goth and Geno when they were younger, happy to have somebody near him at least, to talk to when he got nervous or missing his parents.

“Yeah…I suppose your right. Still, I do worry about him,” PJ said. There was more knocking that came from the front door, and this time Goth got up to answer it. He opened it up to find Dream standing there…and Cross. Both of them were in their normal outfits, but they also appeared to have had the clothes pressed and fixed up nice while their accessories, like Dream’s circlet and Cross’ necklace, seemed to glow like they just been shined. Certainly more fancied up than Error, Ink, and PJ’s appearance. Goth didn’t say much as he let the two of them in.

“Hi everyone! It’s so nice that we can all be here today,” Dream said with a gentle smile, who genuinely seem happy. His mood changed quickly when he and Ink locked eyes. Goth could tell that Dream became upset slightly because he grew nervous; however Ink gave Dream a blank stare in return. Cross looked around and saw Palette. Then he remarked, trying to be funny, “Ah. You must be Palette. I hardly recognized you, since you’re like ‘half the person you once were’.”

Immediately Goth started charging at him with his scythe drawn, but Death quickly got up and dragged his son by the scarf to the back of the house and away from the company, shouting out, “We’ll be back in a moment! We just realized that we needed to check something!”

When he got Goth to the very back of the house, which was where the guest bathroom and the laundry room was at, he started out by saying, “You need to hold your temper.” Goth just huffed, still upset from how Cross talked to Palette. He knew what Cross said alone hurt Palette more than he would want to let on. “Now, while I agree that Cross was rude, that doesn’t mean you get to hurt him.”

Goth looked at Death while the elder skeleton continued. “We may have the ability to kill, but that doesn’t mean we use that ability nilly-willy. Plus, you don’t want to make an enemy out of Cross. He still works for Nightmare, and we need to stay neutral between this war that the twins got going on. That includes Palette too.”

Goth nodded, calming down some. Death let out a sigh and said, “C’mon. We shouldn’t be away too much longer. They’ll get even more suspicious.” They walked back to the living room, just in time to hear the end of Dream’s story. Dream and Cross were still standing there, as the only available seats left were the other single seat lounge chair and part of the couch next to Error and Ink. Goth only assumed that there were still tense feelings between the four of them if neither of them were willing to be on the same couch with the other pair.

“And that’s how I met Cross.”

“Yep,” Cross replied on cue, however he seem more focused on Goth and his actions rather than what Dream was saying. Goth just stared back, not backing down in any way. Death intervened once more and asked, “When’s dinner again, hon?”

Geno, who was paying more attention to the glares that Goth and Cross were giving each other, snapped his attention to his husband and said, “Well…everyone is here. I think we should go ahead and eat before the food gets any colder.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided that I wanted to use Paperjam's canon relationship instead of using Freshpaper, despite how much I love Freshpaper. 
> 
> Ink belongs to @comyet   
Dream belongs to @joku  
Error and Geno belongs to @loverofpiggies  
Death belongs to @renrink  
Cross belongs to @jake95  
Paperjam belongs to @7goodangel  
Omni and the concept of Pluris belongs to @CereusBlueArt on Tumblr  
Monochrome belongs to @skoopskoop on Tumblr


	3. Dinner Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get interesting at dinner, which leads to some conflicts.

Everyone agreed with Geno that it was time to eat. Cross and Ink were the first to enter the kitchen and reach for the food, but Geno quickly ran in front of them and managed to smack both of their outreached hands in one swipe.

“Why?” Ink whined once again while Cross was rubbing his own hand in anger for being denied his favorite food. 

“Because you two didn’t wash your hands! Now go!” Geno said, now irritated from the lack of basic manners that these two skeletons had.

“…Fine,” Ink and Cross both said simultaneously, and walked off to the guest bathroom to wash up first, followed by the rest of the house. Palette smiled a little at this scene despite feeling stressed out. He honestly felt like he going to throw up but he didn’t dare say anything about it. _‘I don’t want any more attention drawn to me to be honest, even though Goth and I are the hosts.’ _

Finally, everyone was seated at the table, each with their plates full and their cups filled with their preferred drink. Normally the table only seated four people, being Goth and Palette along with Death and Geno, since they visited more often than anyone else. Because they were having more guests over, Goth and Death had scrambled to get extra chairs for everyone from all over the house. Now, while the table seemed cramped, there were enough seats for everyone to sit at the table and eat. There wasn’t much conversation while everyone was eating but toward the end of the meal, Ink spoke up with his mouth full.

“This is really good, Palette!” Ink managed to say before continuing to eat. Dream and Cross nodded, preferring to keep eating rather than spitting out their food.

“Um…thank you, but most of this was Geno’s cooking. I just made the salads,” Palette said, a little shy from the comment. Geno smiled and responded, “You did a big part too. I wouldn’t have gotten a lot of this done without your help. Don’t knock yourself short.”

“Agreed,” Death replied with carefree smile on his face. Palette was smiling, to the best of his ability, however he turned his gaze at Goth, only to become worried. It was evident from the way he was eating with the small scowl on his face and how narrow his eyes were that Goth was still upset. ‘_Was it because of what Cross said?’_ Palette was hurt a little when Cross said those words…but he knew Cross meant no harm; at least this time anyway. He could tell because of the way Cross’ aura acted. ‘_It’ll be hard telling Goth that…’_

When everyone was done eating, everyone had put their dishes away and thrown the trash in the trash can, but resumed talking with one another. “So, how is the house doing for you two?” Ink asked in full genuine interest.

“It’s good, Dad. Real good. No problems whatsoever,” Palette responded, while Goth took notice of the question and nodded.

“That’s good. I was afraid that it would be cramp after living here for so long,” Ink said, content with this answer.

“…I suppose it’s not big and fancy like Geno’s place but I like it. How about you Gothy?” Palette asked. Goth nodded again, however Geno huffed.

“Mine is too big and it’s hard to clean,” he stated; however Death turned to him with a smile and remarked, “Admit it, you love it. It gives you something to do when I’m gone. Plus you’ve been having a lot more parties just to show the place off.” Geno huffed once more and turned his head away from Death in embarrassment, however Death giggled in amusement.

“…When did you become such a Martha Stewart?” Error asked, a bit curious about the situation. Geno blushed and yelled out, “I am not Martha Stewart! I just like having a nice looking house, that’s all!”

“Yet you act the role of perfect housewife so well,” Death teased, to which Geno playful attacked him with an unused paper napkin. Everyone laughed at this scene. “Well, you house is beautiful, Geno. Cross and I are looking for a nice place to settle down in ourselves,” Dream said with a soft smile as he held Cross’ arm gently. Cross was happy, but he was being very shy about it.

“Oh. Congrats,” PJ said casually, while Error nodded. However Ink narrowed his eyes and said, “Really? So soon?”

Dream visibly twitched at this remark and Cross eyed Ink, ready to defend Dream if need be. The room got tense very quickly, and Palette felt a nervous pit growing in his stomach. ‘_Please don’t fight. Please don’t fight. Please don’t fight.’_

“I mean, you guys been dating for…about two months now? Honestly, it seems like you’re in a hurry to get another child, Dream.”

Dream stiffened at this remark while Cross was getting up from the chair. His white eyes flashed angrily as they were directed at Ink. Before Cross unleashed his weapon, Death spoke up.

“I think that it’s perfectly okay. They’re happy with each other and if they want to settle down in an abode of their own then that’s their business,” Death said, trying to remain casual, but it was clear that he was telling Cross and Ink to behave as well from the glare in his eyes and the magic flowing out of his eye sockets in wisps. Cross sat back down, glancing back and forth between Death and Ink. Ink merely shrugged at this and said, “Well, I just figure Cross might be making a mistake is all.”

“Ex-exactly what do you mean by that?” Dream asked as nicely as he could, given the fact that he was just insulted right at his face. Both Dream’s and Cross’ faces were turning red with anger.

“Ink, no,” Error said as he held his forehead with both hands in aggravation, however Ink ignored him and replied to Dream, “You heard me. Cross was my friend once and I don’t want him to make another mistake by being with you.” Dream was clearly furious by the reaction he gave but, before he opened his mouth, Goth stood up. “Why don’t we go back into the living room? I bet we got some board games we could play!”

“If we’re playing board games then I’m out,” Error adamantly said, while quickly covering Ink’s mouth so that the skelinkton didn’t have a chance to remark about anything else.

“Ditto. No card games either,” said PJ.

“…Uh…we got video games?” Goth suggested. It was clear to Palette that Goth was trying to calm the situation down, to which he appreciated it; however their home was more fixed up to Goth and Palette’s comfort rather than entertaining guests. Geno quickly stood up as well and said, “I can always pick something up from my house real quick.”

Dream, who had being staring daggers at Ink, snapped his attention back to the group and said, “You don’t have to do that.”

“Oh it’s fine! Don’t worry about it! I’ll be back in a jiffy!” Geno said ecstatically, than whispered something into Death’s ear before he ran out the front door. _‘Please hurry back,’_ Palette thought as he sat there, looking at his parents who were ready to attack each other. He felt one of Goth’s hands cover his own once he sat back down, which were clinched together tightly in his lap. “How about we chill out in the meantime? No need in getting upset over anything,” Death said as he comfortably leaned back in his chair.

“You’ve been rather quiet,” Cross stated.

Palette realized, after a few seconds, that Cross was talking to him. The monochrome-clothed skeleton stared at him, expecting an answer of some kind. “I…um…had nothing to say,” Palette said quietly.

Cross smiled a little, and then said, “I remember when you were younger, and you were always so chatty. At first it was annoying – “, he trailed off, his face changed just slightly. He looked away, his eyes focused on something else as he said softly, “Now…you’re more melancholy and withdrawn nowadays. It’s hard to picture you as the same kid that I use to shoo away so many times.”

Palette gave a small smile, and he replied, “A lot has happened in such a short time it seems.”

“So it has,” Cross said, and Dream held Cross’ arm when he heard those words, rubbing the top part of his arm slowly and gently.

“To be fair…it’s a part of growing up. We can’t experience life to the fullest without facing hardships along the way,” PJ said, finally relaxing after the bickering earlier. Palette was pretty sure that PJ was going to bolt from the room the moment the fighting started, but maybe he had grown used to it because of the fights that Error and Ink would get into as well. Everyone in the room nodded at PJ’s statement in full agreement. Despite hearing these wise words from his ‘family’s’ mouths, Palette felt himself become more depressed. _‘I just wish it didn’t hurt so much. I wish it didn’t leave me so crippled and worthless.’_

A cell phone rang amongst them, with the song, “Hey Mama” playing for its ringtone. Almost everyone was slightly spooked by this sudden interruption. Palette and Goth recognized the ringtone, merely sighing in response to this. Death pulled out his phone casually and answered, “Hey Geno! What’s taking so long? What? Okay, I’ll come out and help you.” Death quickly got up and ran out the door, while the rest of the guests sat there…slightly unnerved about what just took place.

It was a minute later that Geno came in with two rather large erasable marker boards while Death followed behind with two easels to hold them up. “We are going to play ‘What Are They Drawing?’” Geno announced while him. Death was already setting up the area for the game in the living room, pushing the glass table beside the T.V stand to make more room for everyone to get around to the boards and arranging the chairs and couches to be closer together.

“Yes!” Ink cried out with joy once he heard Geno’s propasol.

“Finally. Something that you might be good at,” Error said. With this remark said, Ink glared at Error with crosshairs in each of his eyes, causing Error to glitch slightly.

“Two easels mean two teams, right?” PJ asked while becoming very intrigue.

“Yes!” Geno started, using a black marker as a pointer to demonstrate, “There are two teams. One person from each team goes up to the board and draws whatever the card from this deck says.” Geno showed the stack of white index cards that were already shuffled and ready for use. “The first person from either team that guesses correctly on what the artists are drawing gets a point for their team. It is up to that artist to help their teammates guess the right item. Then, we switch artists for every round. The team that gets the most points in thirty rounds wins.”

“Why thirty?” Dream asked

“Because that’s how many cards I managed to make” Geno admitted with embarrassment.

“Cross and I are on the same team!” Dream said with glee.

“I’m on Dream’s team,” PJ stated without hesitation.

“Traitor! I thought you would be on our team!” Ink cried out while pointing at PJ in an accusing manner and holding Error in a one-arm hug. Error was taken off guard and exclaimed, “Why would I be on your team?” Ink quickly started holding Error in a vice grip and turned his head slowly to his boyfriend in anger, who was very much regretting what he said. “I-I meant ‘why wouldn’t I be on your team’…darling…”

The teams were divided pretty quickly after that. Team A was Dream, Cross, Paperjam, and Geno while Team B was Ink, Error, Goth, Palette, and Death. After everyone settled in the living room once again, the game started with Ink and Cross being the first artists up. After Cross pulled the first card and showed the word to Ink, they both got to work drawing.

First Cross drew two horizontal ovals beside each other, while Ink started covering the entire board in blue. Goth and Error were confused by this however Palette couldn’t help but laugh. He understood how extravagant Ink was when it came to drawing anything. Death was not impressed but remained silent. Carefully, and with precision, Cross drew a loop around the bottom oval and presented it. “It’s pancakes!” Dream said, but Cross shook his head.

“Uh…oh gosh I forgot what I even wrote down in those cards…marbles?” Geno said, but Cross shook his head as well.

Ink, however, was making a mess on the board until he paused and then tapped Cross on the shoulder. Cross looked at Ink after he made two dots on the end of the oval in the middle with a confused look before Ink asked, “What was on the card again?”

“Ink!” Error screamed out in frustration while Palette continued laughing, with Death and Goth joining in as well. Cross merely rolled his eyes and showed the card to Ink again, who simply said, “Oh”. Then Ink erased the entire board to start over. “INK!” Error cried out louder while the rest of that team hollered in laughter.

After Cross finished drawing the smiling face, he put two triangles above the smiling face, in which PJ exclaimed, “Hotdog!” Cross smiled in response and simply said “Yep”

“…Wait…hotdogs don’t have smiley faces or ears,” Goth pointed out.

“They do in Haventale. It’s a specialty there,” Paperjam explained while Cross nodded.

The next artists up was PJ and Goth. Goth was full of confidence before he started, however PJ managed to draw his racecar before Goth got the base ready, giving the point to Team A again. “…Whoah”, Goth said in awe, somewhat jealous. PJ, however, scoffed it off and went to sit back down.

The game went on like that basically, with everyone showing off their best drawing skills. Whenever Palette drew anything, Goth guessed it immediately since he knew Palette’s drawing ability very well, however Goth was so terrible and slow that he needed cheering up from Palette once in a while to keep playing. Geno, Error, Dream, and Death were decent artists and their drawings got straight to the point, not being elaborate and fancy. Cross was very good artist; him and PJ were silently competing on who was the better artist, despite being on the same team. Poor Ink did the worst unfortunately, often being lost in the thoughts of his work, forgetting what he was drawing, and outright making something else entirely; despite this, he made very beautiful artwork.

“Look Error, it’s you!” Ink said with glee as he showed off his picture, which was a portrait of Error. Error face-palmed himself as PJ quickly finished his picture. “Cow”, Dream said, however PJ narrowed his eyes and said, “You could have said it sooner. It was obvious”

“Yeah…but I really wanted to know what Ink was wasting his time with,” Dream replied with a grin while Ink narrowed his eyes at him.

“Next up is Palette’s and Dream’s turn," Geno said, while PJ said to Dream playfully, “This time, I’m going to wait until your done drawing before I say the answer”, causing Dream to giggle.

Palette got up and went to his board while Dream went to get the card, however he noticed that he was…shaky. His hand shook and his body trembled slightly. “Paly, you okay?” Goth asked, somehow noticing the trouble that Palette was having. Palette didn’t want to worry Goth so he said, “I’m fine Gothy”; however it was clear that Goth did not trust those words. He looked over to the card and started reading it, only to realize that he didn’t understand the word. It said a word on it…but it was like Palette couldn’t focus on the word. It didn’t make sense to him and it partially scared him.

Dream went to board and was starting to draw until he noticed Palette wasn’t moving. “Palette…?” he asked softly, unsure of what was going on. Palette looked at him and found that he couldn’t respond to his dad’s voice. He suddenly felt weak and felt his knees give in. Instead of hitting the floor, Cross had run and caught him before he landed. His eyes hurt and he couldn’t see anything clearly, like colors mixed together to form some strange type of kaleidoscopic world that was beyond comprehension. Then darkness enshrouded him. Finally he woke up, finding himself to be in the bedroom, under the covers. He was shocked to say the least. He quickly noticed that Goth was lying beside him as well, petting his skull gently. 

“Gothy? What happened?” Palette asked, his soul still throbbing with a dull pain. Goth sighed and said, “You had a real bad episode earlier. You were in pretty bad shape.”

“…Where is everyone?”

“They left, Paly. They wanted to let you rest and recover so they went on…to wherever they initially planned on going after dinner.”

“Oh no…I didn’t mean to…”

“Now stop that, Paly. Everyone knew that you couldn’t stop that from happening. It wasn’t your fault.”

Palette knew that much was true but it didn’t stop him from having guilt about it. He nestled beside Goth, almost snuggling, before sighing and letting the topic go. Goth continued petting him, explaining what happened in full detail. Apparently Palette collapse where he stood, shaking as though he was freezing to death. Cross was the first to react and caught Palette before he hit the ground. Goth was the next to jump into action and he led Cross, who was carrying Palette at this point, to the bedroom with Geno, Ink, and Dream on their heels and ready to help. Goth managed to get more medicine in Palette with their help while the others stayed downstairs, not sure of what to do. Cross left first when they did all they could do, but Ink and Dream stayed and watched like hawks. One could say that Ink was concerned if they did not realize that Ink was incapable of true emotions. Once Palette’s shaking subsided, Geno managed to convince them to leave Goth and Palette be, so they reluctantly left the room. Eventually everyone decided it was better to leave and let Palette rest. Geno and Death went ahead clean up, to make it easier on Goth when Palette got better. Dream and Cross were kind enough to help before they left. Everyone had been gone a few hours before Palette woke.

“Wow. So much happened," Palette said in slight disbelief.

“Yeah, but it was okay in the end.” Palette simply snuggled closer to Goth, trying to enjoy his husband’s presence. Goth merely sighed and patted him gently on the head. They were like this for a few minutes, in the darkness and silence of their room before Goth interrupted.

“Today wasn’t so bad though…right?”

Palette wasn’t sure how to respond. His parents did have a nasty fight today, and it felt like Ink was gunning for Dream. He did have fun during the game and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was nice to know that everyone did their best to help out during that episode, especially Cross. Palette didn’t even think that Cross would even be willing to budge for him, much less catch and carry Palette up to the bedroom. Then there was PJ. Why did PJ even show up? They met less than ten times in their lives before now and it never ended well. It was all confusing really.

“Palette, are you alright? Are you having another attack?”

Palette looked back up to Goth, who was currently unaware of what was going through his husband’s head. Palette smiled before leaning up and kissing Goth gently. Goth returned it before pulling away quickly.

“I worry about you, you know.”

“I know Gothy. I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured at this point Cross didn't have Chara still in him...so yeah.


	4. A Visit from Unclemare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is just some family members you don't want to be associated with.

The pain in his chest is what woke Palette up follow by the slight shaking. It didn’t happen often but sometimes Palette’s episodes would occur while he slept. When it did happen, Palette would often wake with a start while shaking all over. He quickly took his medicine and looked around, realizing that Goth was not here right now. _‘He must be working. At least he didn’t see me like this…again.’_

Palette hated to worry Goth over things that can’t be help, however he did appreciate the concern and level of attention Goth had for him. ‘_I supposed I’m addicted to Goth’s affection.’_ Palette smiled when thinking about this and slightly blushed as well.

After the shaking went away, Palette got up and went to the bathroom to clean up then started downstairs to get breakfast. Once he entered the kitchen, he went straight for the coffee pot; however the coffee machine was not there. Despite being puzzled, Palette just assumed that Goth might have gotten rid of it and went to get a new one, especially after the last time the machine acted up which the normally nice Goth went the whole day without coffee and with a bitter attitude. “Just get some coffee at one of those Starbucks”, Palette had said to which Goth responded with, “I’m not paying for that expensive stuff when I can get the same thing from home!” That day turned out to be terrible, not only for Goth but for everyone else in his path. Palette didn’t care much for coffee products, but he did like hot chocolate and the occasionally tea.

Instead of getting his hot chocolate liked he hoped, Palette decided to get milk instead with some leftover doughnuts that Death brought the other day.

**“Your lack of awareness is amusing. I could have killed you so easily if I wanted to.”**

Palette was caught off guard by the voice. At first he didn’t recognize it, so he looked over to the living room to see who was talking to him. What he didn’t expect to see was the dark being itself, covered in corruption and malice with a smile like a fox in a hen house. His lone blue cyan could pierce any soul, searching for any weakness that may be hidden within the darkest of corners. The tentacles seem to sway gently however they were ready to strike anyone down with one single thrust. He, who stood there, was the proclaimed king of darkness and negativity known as Nightmare.

“Uncle-mare?”

Nightmare scowled when he heard those words. “**You will refer to me by my proper title.”**

“Okay. What are you doing here, King Goopy-Goop?”

Palette was pretty sure when Nightmare raised his tentacles and pointed them at him in a threatening manner that perhaps he might have gone too far. Now, while Palette could not die, he certainly did not want more injuries to add on the ones he currently has, if that was possible. “**Clearly you have your father’s sense of humor while you have your mother’s cowardice.”**

“I like to think both of my ‘dads’ have courage and while I have an amazing sense of humor of my own. Why are you here?” Palette did not want to waste time with Nightmare, as he knew Nightmare was here for a reason and he didn’t want to spend any time with his uncle that he could get out of. Nightmare withdrew his tentacles away from Palette before walking to the couch and sitting down, keeping his stare at him the entire time. Palette was about to say something else before Nightmare spoke up once more.

**“Why are you naked? Didn’t either of your parents teach you any self-respect or decency?”**

It was then that Palette realized that he was still in his boxers. To be fair, he and Goth didn’t get visitors often and, when they do, any guests would just knock and stay outside like normal visitors and not break in like Nightmare did. Upset in general, Palette decided to limp away and go back upstairs to change. It took about an hour, as Palette didn’t mind letting Nightmare wait. Besides, the self-proclaimed king was clearly making himself at home. Palette came downstairs, fully dressed in matching gray sweats, and went straight back to the living room to see what Nightmare had been up to since he left. Satisfied to see nothing changed and that Nightmare hadn’t moved from his spot, Palette went back into the kitchen to find something to eat.

“You never did mention why you came for a visit.”

**“Aw, I need an excuse to visit my favorite nephew.”**

“I’m your only nephew.”

**“Thus far,”** Nightmare said with a devious smile so obvious on his face, “**It’s only a matter of time before Cross shacks up with Dream, and I know that Cross has desires for a ‘big happy family’.”**

Palette did not want to admit it but that sentence really upset him. He still didn’t like Cross, even after the events at the family dinner. Why? When Palette was little, Cross was always on his best behavior around Dream and never tried anything that would upset their friendship on purpose. However, when Dream was not nearby, he would mean to Palette and tell him to get lost, even go to the extremes of bullying the child. Cross use to terrorize little Goth as well until Geno decided to intervene and give Cross a ‘_bad time_’. Palette would tell Dream about Cross’ behavior, though it felt like his dad didn’t believe him. Or perhaps Dream thought that Palette was exaggerating about everything. Now that Palette was older and Cross was dating Dream? Clearly Palette didn’t feel welcome near them now and why should he? Ten years may be a long time, but he was sure that Cross didn’t change much.

“Why are you here?” Palette asked once more, much sterner than he had been before which pushed outside his comfort zone just a little bit. Nightmare was not someone to trifle with so carelessly and Palette knew it. The said monster frowned just a little before grinning again.

“**Don’t be like that Palette. I’m actually here to help you.**”

This took Palette off guard. “How exactly?” he asked. Dream had warned Palette to never trust Nightmare, even if he seemed friendly and genuine. Palette had been naïve a few times, thinking that Nightmare wanted to hang out with his nephew when in fact he had been held hostage the whole time. He had always wanted an uncle or aunt to play with, even grandparents, and heard the stories about when Nightmare was still good. Now he wanted nothing to do with the abomination that took his real uncle’s name.

“**I want to help you get better, that’s all**.”

“Nothing can help me now. I’m eternally dying with no way to cure myself.”

“**Oh…but that’s where your wrong, dear nephew.”**

Palette stared at Nightmare for a little while, his attention to food completely gone and now directed at the current conversation. Nightmare gestured to one of the chairs in the living room, specifically the one right across from him. Palette narrowed his gaze but obeyed, being wary of whatever scheme Nightmare had in store for him.

“**You see, your problem relies on the fact that you don’t have enough magic to restore yourself to your proper form, or at least a form that you can reside in without crumpling to dust. You don’t have the same DETERMINATION that Geno has nor enough magic from Ink or Dream to be strong enough on your own. Basically, you’re a much weaker life-form than each of them.”**

‘_Thanks for beating a dead horse. I get it.’_; Palette dared not to say these words out loud.

**“What you need is a boost of magic essentially. Not like the food that restores your health instantly. Those don’t have enough magic in them for your body to work on recovering. You need something much stronger.”**

“If you’re suggesting that I should jam a vial of determination into my soul, then no thanks. Geno did that and he isn’t in the best state of mind right now.”

**“Oh nothing like that, I assure you. That’s far too crude compared to what I’m offering.” **

Nightmare reached into his pocket and pulled out an apple. It wasn’t just any apple though. This one was black as oblivion and reek of negativity. Palette watched it with surprise and awe as Nightmare set it on the table in front of him. Palette knew what it was…he just couldn’t believe that he was seeing it.

**“I’ll give you one Negative Apple to help restore yourself back to normal.”**

Palette knew something was up. There was a catch and he was not falling for it.

“In exchange for what?” Palette asked with caution.

Nightmare laughed out loud, his malicious tone reverberating against the house walls. **“I love making deals with skeptical creatures such as you. Especially when they know that they are being played. It makes any conversation much more interesting.”**

Palette bit his tongue in frustration. He needed to tell Nightmare that he wasn’t interested. He should tell Nightmare to leave immediately, even at the cost of his own life. Palette needed to walk away from the topic all together. The problem was that he was interested. Palette wanted to know why Nightmare would even bother with this. He wanted to know if the Negative Apple would work and get him his life back. He also wanted to know the cost. He was very curious despite the obvious warnings screaming at him. “You didn’t answer my question,” Palette simply said, despite wanting to say more.

Nightmare grinned all too eagerly. **“Of course…you will have to repay me.”**

“By being your servant, you mean?”

**“I wouldn’t say that per say, but more or less doing what I ask of you from now on would be more accurate. That would be a sufficient form of payment, considering that I gave you the key to your freedom.” **

There was something that Nightmare wasn’t saying. There was an extra clause in fine print that Palette wasn’t seeing and it scared him. Before Palette could say anything else, Nightmare got up and brushed off his clothing. **“I’m afraid that I must be going. So many things to do and I cannot leave such work for my simple minded minions. However I did enjoy talking with you. I do hope that we can meet again soon.”**

Palette was unsure how to properly respond to that, so he tried to be polite. “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. I’m always here so…I guess you can come by whenever you want.” It wasn’t an invitation, and Nightmare knew it.

**“In the meantime, I’ll leave this here. I won’t force the decision on you now but I truly do hope that you’ll consider my offer before my next visit. Think about it. It could save your life.” **Nightmare smiled sweetly at the last sentence before warping out of the house and perhaps the ‘Save Screen’ altogether.

Palette let out a sigh of relief. Nightmare’s aura was getting unbearable for Palette to stand. The aura itself was literally suffocating Palette, trying to snuff out the last of his soul. He was glad that Nightmare was gone. However, the dark apple sitting on the table posed…problems. Palette didn’t want Goth to see it but he didn’t want to hide it from his husband either.

None of Goth’s family like Nightmare and some still did not like being around Dream. It wasn’t that the family didn’t approve of Dream as it was they disliked Nightmare so much. Even though Dream never intended it, problems from Nightmare and the dispute between positivity and negativity followed the little guardian around. It caused hardships on those around Dream, thus many chose to leave both brothers alone rather than getting caught in the middle. The AfterDeath family had sworn off having any involvement in the battle between Dream and Nightmare, which included helping or hindering either side. It was fine and there was no trouble that came of it, thus far. Dream understood this perfectly and was never truly offended. Despite all of this, Geno and Death had somehow grown a friendship with Dream thanks to Ink’s meddling. This led to Palette being able to meet Goth in the first place.

It did put Palette in a bind though. He loved Goth and wanted to respect the wishes of his new family however Palette did want to support both his dads as well, for creation and positivity were good things. At first, Palette wanted to be just like them. A hero that could help and inspire the multi-verse he lived in and creators that Ink always talked about. But now? He didn’t know what he wanted anymore. A lot had change for him ten years ago and in did so in a matter of minutes. He couldn’t save anyone. All he did was cause grief to everyone that he knew.

Palette held his remaining hand against what was left of his chest. He hated that he went into that fire. He wished he hadn’t gotten involved. He could remember the little girls in that fire. They trusted him to save them…and he didn’t.

Palette shook those thoughts out of his head. He just wanted to eat something and go back to bed. As for the dark fruit that was sitting on the low table? That will have to wait until Goth got home and Palette was not looking forward to that conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare belongs to @joku


	5. Family Discussion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Death and Geno try to comfort and explain things to Goth.
> 
> Ink and Dream confront Nightmare

“There! Perfect!” Geno cried out with joy as he finished putting up the bookcase. He felt so accomplished…until he realized that one of the shelves was tilted to the side enough to be unleveled. “Ah man. I can’t even build a DIY bookcase without help. Whelp, I gave it an honest try.”

Geno shrugged his shoulders in defeat and then sat down in his chair. Geno’s house, in many monsters’ opinions, was a very grand house to be in. Many considered it to be fancy, as it had as entryway which led into the rest of the house. The biggest room, on the left, was the living room. It was painted and decorated with soft colors that gave the entire room a calm feeling. There is a rather large L-shaped couch that wrapped around a coffee table that could be pulled apart into separate chairs. There were also two very comfortable lounge chairs that reclined back. One belonged to Geno, which was leather but soft enough to allow Geno to sink into. The other one was Death’s, covered in fabric instead as the leather stuck to Death’s bones and made him uncomfortable. It sat beside Geno’s, the only thing separating them was a small book table. No one else touched these specific chairs, whether it was the other family members or guests. All the furniture was lined in a circle surrounding a coffee table, so everyone could face each other while sitting. There was a T.V, but it was hardly used. The now awkward bookcase was also in here as well.

Geno relaxed into his chair and was very close to taking a nap when he heard someone barged into the house. To his surprise, it was Death, whom looked irritated. Death threw his scythe down on the ground, which would have to be picked up later, walked straight to the living room and sat down in his chair in a slumped position. Geno was surprised. He suspected that Death had a bad day today. One of the most obvious pieces of evidence was the expression on Death’s face when he entered. Death did not even acknowledge Geno’s presence much less greet him when he walked in.

“I built the bookcase today. See?” Geno said as he pointed to the new furniture in the house, hoping to get Death to open up and talk about it. Death looked at Geno, then at the bookcase, and then nodded to Geno before sliding further more down the lounge chair.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Geno said crossly as he got up from his chair, catching Death’s attention.

“…Don’t what?” Death mumbled.

“Don’t go into your emo phase before telling me what happened today,” Geno said, before flopping into the same chair with Death and cuddling him close. Since Death was about a foot taller, Geno simply huddled into the reaper’s side and held him close. Death, despite his eyes hollow and empty, grinned and held Geno closer while resting his head on top of smaller skeleton.

“I had a pretty crappy day today.”

“Does it have to do with your job?”

“Yeah.”

“Was there a mass genocide going on?” Death frowned quickly, catching Geno’s attention.

“It wasn’t so much of reaping many souls as it was trying to reap souls and getting nothing done in the end.”

Geno paused, trying to process what Death was telling him before speaking up again. “So, basically you got nothing done? Were you being lazy today?”

“Nah. I was working hard.”

“I doubt that. You’re lazy.”

“Like you. But my problem was mostly having to go to the designated sites and finding out that the person isn’t going to die, which wasted my time and effort.”

“…hmm. That sounds terrible.”

“Yeah. Normally I shrugged something like this off but there was so much stupidity involved that it was awful. Like a few hours earlier Horror Sans, the one that works with Nightmare, got his head chopped off by accident.”

“I’m sorry but how did that happen?”

“The idiots were messing around during training and Horror didn’t dodge in time. So basically I need to go in there and reap him, like I would with any other monster, but Nightmare gets in my way. He starts talking about all this useless stuff and trying to keep me from going the room. I thought he was delaying the evitable but it turns out that he was distracting me. The others had called Error in to help and he sutured Horror’s head back on his body while Nightmare was keeping me occupied. The worse part about the whole thing was that it bloody worked and the asshole still lives!”

Geno busted into laughter when he heard those words. Death quickly became upset. “Oh come on, admit it! That’s funny!” he cried out, still giggling.

“It’s also stupid! That shouldn’t have worked!” Despite Death’s argument, Geno continued laughing until there were tears in his eyes.

“There’s more,” Death said bitterly once Geno had quieted down.

“More? Oh man, I got to hear this!”

They both got interrupted by the sound of the door opening and shutting quickly. A familiar figure rushed into the living room, clearly distressed. “Mom? Dad? Can we talk? Please?” It was Goth.

“What happened?” Geno asked, jumping from Death’s lap and ran straight to Goth, checking his soul for injuries of any kind. Death, too, became alert when Goth entered and asked for their help, though instead he remained sitting in the recliner. Goth relaxed his shoulders; anyone could tell that he was upset about something. “I had a fight with Palette. A bad one.”

“WHAT?”

“I’ll kill him-”

“Death, no. Gothy, what happened?”

Goth looked at his mom for a moment before wiping his eyes in distress. Geno frowned, and began hugging Goth gently, hoping that it would comfort his son and help the little one calm down. “Thanks Mom,” Goth said, hugging Geno back before pulling away. He took in a deep breath, exhaled, and started talking.

“I got home and I found out that Nightmare paid a visit to Palette. Not only that, he _literally_ gave Palette one of the Negative Apples. A real one! Palette mentioned something about Nightmare wanting to help but…I really flipped out. I just started yelling at Palette and…he started yelling back…and it just got out of control. I don’t know what to do.”

Geno had froze the very second Nightmare was mentioned, and he was sure that Death did as well. It was the idea that Nightmare was _helping_ anyone was the thing that gave Geno shivers.

“He…didn’t take it…did he?” It was all Geno could do to speak but at least Goth understood him.

“No. Palette didn’t touch the thing, let alone mess with it.”

“That’s good.”

That was all Death said, but it was obvious that he had a few more choice things to say. Geno sighed, in relief this time. He was worried deep down though he tried to hide it. Nightmare had only entered the ‘Save Screen’ the one time before, and it was when Geno was at his weakest.

It was back during Geno’s total isolation. Sans, Geno’s truest alter ago, had refused to help Geno once more, which allowed Chara to kill everyone again. It had become routine now but it was starting to become a never ending nightmare. Geno, needless to say, was starting to lose the last of his hope. Then, the hallucinations began. It started with distorted words that entered Geno’s mind, telling him how useless he was, how much of failure he became, and how disappointed his brother would be. Then images would begin to appear, false but realistic. Some of these disturbing images included dust piles scattered around Geno, growing bigger and bigger over time, and enveloping Geno causing suffocation and pain. Others were the screaming faces of everyone he knew, blood leaking from them as they begged for mercy. Self injuries started showing up on Geno, real ones, as he tried to cope with everything that was happening to him. He would have killed himself if it had continued on.

Then the story changed. One of the versions of Sans had prevailed, and him, Geno, and Frisk managed to turn things around for the better. Chara was gone and eradicated from the timeline, and the story finally found the pacifist ending everyone desired. Geno had to remain in the ‘Save Screen’ unfortunately, but he did not mind. He was finally happy. Geno would have never suspected it was one particular being that was causing the most of his misery, if it had not been overly excited skelinkton named Ink, who was very interested in Aftertale’s story at the time, accidently speaking about it.

_‘Your story is so amazing, Geno! I love the dynamics and the action and the suspense and…and…well I just want to say that I am a huge fan! I was so sure that Nightmare would try to get you to commit suicide but you prevailed! Even without Dream’s help! That’s awesome!’_

Geno shuddered as he remembered those events. Nightmare alone caused most of Geno’s psychological damage that still affected him today. While Geno never told Death what happened, he knew that Death had eventually found out. It was fine, since Geno wasn’t actually hiding such details from Death. What bothered Geno, however, was not that Nightmare returned. It was Nightmare returning and meddling with Palette and Goth that scared Geno now. Poor Palette had been through enough already and Geno shuddered to think about the plans that Nightmare had in store. It was not to help, that was for sure.

“I understand that you’re worried, Goth, but at least Palette has no intentions of eating that horrid fruit, let alone keeping it.”

Goth, upon hearing those words, tried to smile but it was a solemn one. He looked away, not giving Geno direct eye contact like before, and started rubbing his hands together, slowly and nervously. Geno frowned. “Gothy, what’s wrong?”

Goth sighed before replying, very hesitate to speak.

“That’s what Palette says…but…I can tell that he isn’t being totally honest with me.”

It was Geno’s turn to look away and, out of the corner of his eye sockets, he could tell that Death was no longer sitting down but rather standing behind Geno now. “He keeps looking at the vile fruit! I know he wants to get better, but doesn’t he realize that’s a bad idea?”

“Can you truly blame him?” was the question that Death asked quietly. Goth visibly winced when he heard his dad say those words. “He’s suffering Goth. If he was a pet or a simple animal, I would have told you to put him out of his misery a long time ago.” Geno turned sharply and glared at Death for even saying anything of that nature to Goth, but Death kept his stern expression regardless of the threat.

“I know you love Palette, but you must understand that Palette will be tempted by Nightmare’s offer, whatever it may be. All mortals are tempted to have immortality or an extended lifespan. Combine that with Palette’s hopes and dreams and you have the perfect victim.” Death paused just for a moment, perhaps thinking of what to say next, before speaking again. “Nevertheless, Palette refused. You shouldn’t be angry. If anything, I would be proud of him for not giving in immediately.”

Geno looked at Death with a stunned face. Goth did as well, but he soon smiled. “You’re right, Dad. I should be back there with Palette and helping him. I keep forgetting how he must be feeling about this entire…dilemma.”

“I don’t think that you’re forgetting. It’s pretty easy to become numb to misery when exposed to it for so long. You are so used to the cruelty, the horrid, and the soulless nature of life that it has become second nature to you. On the other hand, Palette, despite all that had happened, has an optimistic soul. This whole situation is still very difficult for him to adjust to, even though it has happened ten years ago.”

“…I get it, but what can I even do for him? It feels like I’ve done everything for him…and what about that Negative Apple? I can’t let Palette touch it, but if I get rid of it then Nightmare might come after the both of us.”

It was Geno’s turn to help this time, as he gently cupped Goth’s face in his hands and gave his son a compassionate look. “You have done so much for Palette already, by being there and holding his hand through the worst of his sorrows. You have been his pillar of stability in this chaotic time. You are doing everything that you can think of. That’s more than I ever got when I went through my ordeal. In the meantime, leave that apple alone. I meant it too. Your father and I will deal with that situation ourselves. No need in you two getting involved in something that either of you have nothing to do with.”

“I thought did involve us?”

“Relax kiddo. Leave this to the adults,” Death said which Goth huffed a little.

“I’m not a child anymore, you know that!”

“Can’t help it, baby face,” Death retorted as he laughed at the surprised yet irritated face that Goth made. Goth left soon after, leaving Geno and Death alone once more. Geno turned to Death, a grim demeanor obvious on him.

“Should we call Dream?”

“Yeah. Should we tell Palette we called Dream?”

“I don’t know…I’m not even sure that those two spoke since Dream last visited. It’ll probably upset him so much when he hears about this.”

“Who? Dream or Palette? I guarantee you that both are going to be unhappy: Palette is going to be upset that Dream had to get involved and Dream is going to be upset when he hears that Nightmare is making deals with Palette behind his back.”

“Should we tell Ink though?”

“…Maybe. He’ll either shrug his shoulders then move on or he’ll go full Armageddon mode and more than likely kill Nightmare. If we don’t tell him, he’ll just be curious about the whole thing, after it’s done and over with, and pester everyone until he’s satisfied.”

“Ink is never satisfied,” Geno groaned.

“Correction; he’ll pester everyone until he’s bored and wants to move onto a new topic.”

“Better,” Geno remarked before leaning up and kissing Death on the cheek before walking to the direction of the kitchen. “You call Dream and tell him what’s going on. I need to get dinner ready.” He knew that Death was watching his pelvis move the entire time Geno walked away before pulling out the cell-phone. In all honesty though, he was too emotional tired to care right now.

* * *

Nightmare sat upon his throne, waiting. He knew what was going to happen in the next little bit, for he had planned it this way. It would have taken a few hours from the time that Nightmare left Palette’s residence to the time Goth had returned from work, and that was expected. He didn’t want to be there when Goth arrived back, less he faced him or Death face to face. Nightmare already angered the deity once today, thanks to his subordinates, and he did not want to face him again in such a short time.

Commotion could be heard outside the main front doors of the room and it became louder the closer it came. Nightmare grinned, ready for his brother.

The doors burst open, revealing the smaller yellow-garbed guardian. His skull was flushed with anger as he approached Nightmare. His fists were clenched tightly together in fury. It did delight Nightmare but made him cautious as well. The yellow aura around his screamed with “justice” instead of the usual kindness that it bore. He stopped short of about three yards away from the chair before saying, rather calmly, “How dare you.”

“**Hello Dream. It is so nice to see you again.”**

“My _son_ is off limits.”

“**We were just having a nice, friendly chat. There is nothing wrong with that.**”

“You offered him a deal.”

**“I offered him salvation from his suffering.”**

“You are too damn close to losing your head.”

**“Was that cussing I just heard? _Tsk tsk._ That’s not like you at all.”**

“You stay away from him, or I’ll kill you myself!”

**“You kill me, you kill yourself.”**

“You honestly think that I won’t die for my own kid?”

**“Oh relax, dear brother. I merely offered him a solution to his problem. After all, he is my nephew. Why shouldn’t I care about his well-being?”**

Dream stood there, never flinching at the words and never budging in his stance. He appeared fearless, but deep down Nightmare knew that he was deathly afraid. Afraid of what could’ve happen to Palette, had Nightmare done something else. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again.

“Why did you even do that? I know you Nightmare. You had a reason for approaching Palette in the first place and it wasn’t to recruit him.”

Nightmare smiled deviously, smirking from one side of his face to the other. **“Oh indeed. I wouldn’t have planned such a thing unless I wanted to see you. Though, I am curious as to what would happen if he did take my offer.”** Dream shifted just a little, becoming more uncomfortable.

**“You see, I actually wanted to talk to you. Face to face. I knew you wouldn’t come here without proper motivation. And children are often very useful when it comes to any form of motivation. Sure, I could have easily turned him to the dark side if I truly wanted to. In fact, I could have easily dragged his screaming, tiny body here if I really wanted to do some real damage. Let him wither away into _dust_.”**

Dreams jerked once, perhaps his steel nerves weakening where he stood. It brought satisfaction to Nightmare. **“Now do you understand, Dream? I could have done far worse to your child, if I wanted to that is.”**

“…What do you want?”

**“We need to talk about Cross.” **

That short statement was enough to spark something in Dream. Was it devotion? Perhaps it was the desire to protect the idiot? Nightmare didn’t know exactly.

“What about Cross? I don’t know-”

**“Do not take me for a fool! I know that you have been secretly seeing each other behind my back. I know his loyalty has changed. Why wouldn’t it? Why wouldn’t he fall to my kinder, sweeter, more benevolent _twin_?”** Nightmare found that he was angry as he spoke, but that couldn’t be helped at this moment. **“Normally I can handle when one of my subordinates has a simple puppy crush on you, however I will not stand for betrayal toward me for your love.”**

He snapped his fingers, and out came Killer and Horror, dragging a thoroughly beaten Cross. He had no shirt remaining on his body and his shorts were slightly torn. There was blood dripping from his bones, starting from his face, along his spine, and covering his ribs.

Dream finally broke, landing on his knees when he saw Cross in this sight, tears threatening to spill from his shocked face. **“Are you truly surprised at this? I am capable of much worse.”** “Don’t worry! I’m fine Dream! It’s just a scratch!” Killer turned loose of Cross for a moment to smack him across the face, causing Cross to wince. He kept smiling despite the pain he must be going through.

“Leave him alone! Just leave him alone!” Dream cried out.

**“No. I won’t. Cross and I made a binding contract. He serves me as I see fit, and if I want him to be beaten within an inch of his life then I will do so.”** Cross glared at Nightmare, saying nothing. Nightmare returned with distaste, but quickly turned his attention to Dream once more. **“Don’t look so down, Dream. I’ll let him live, even if it only does nothing else but bring you suffering. Of course, there is something that you can do about this entire situation.”**

This caught Dream’s attention. Good. **“First off, return what belongs to me. I know you have the apple that I had given my dear little nephew.”** Dream, never breaking eye contact, stood back up and pulled out the Negative Apple that was handed to Palette earlier. He then threw the forbidden fruit to Nightmare, but not without changing it to a Positive Apple first. The yellow fruit burned Nightmare’s hand once he made contact with it, before returning it to its negative state. It seems that Cross’ personality had rubbed off on his brother.

**“Next, you tell Ink to stand down. Now.”** Nightmare knew that Ink was hiding somewhere in the castle, just waiting for a surprise attack. How did he know? Because Palette was also Ink’s child, and Nightmare knew Ink was always protective of little skeleton. Where was he? He didn’t know exactly. It was hard to pinpoint him since Ink had no soul or true emotions of his own.

Dream seemed a little confused but not truly surprised. “Ink, stand down. I don’t want Palette getting hurt over this.”

**“I want to see him in front of me. Don’t try anything funny.” **

Ink materialized beside Dream, staring back at Nightmare with a gaze so vacant that it frightened many of the others in the room. Nightmare was always unnerved by that gaze. Perhaps it was due to the lack of emotions that followed behind it. Ink turned to Dream, coldly saying to his ex, “Palette already got hurt over this, and will be later on. You’re a coward.” He returned his stare back at Nightmare afterward.

_‘**He’s planning something.**’_ Nightmare never liked it when Ink entered the equation. He was always a wild card that could never be controlled by anybody, even when he was married to Dream. Ink would do everything his way, using a level of creativity and intelligence that Nightmare could never achieve. This bothered Nightmare greatly.

**“Now then, with everyone present, I would like to propose a truce.” **

“A truce?” Dream asked, still visibly upset. Cross started shouting at Dream and Ink to not trust him which results in him getting attacked by Killer once more. Nightmare smiled, as things were starting to favor him now. **“Of course. I will let Cross go free and I will never lay another finger on your precious son again.”**

“In exchange for what?” Ink asked.

**“In exchange for my brother. To be more frank, his soul. The last apple.” **

Dream stiffened once more, but Ink did nothing. **“Oh come on, Dream. Don’t look so shocked. Didn’t you just say that you would…what were those words? Oh yes. _‘You honestly think that I won’t die for my own kid?’_”** Nightmare couldn’t help but laugh when he said those last words.

“Do you think that this is funny?” Dream said furiously.

**“Of course. You assume that I’m the real threat to everyone you love, but truthfully speaking? It’s you, Dream. You’re the threat. You have always been the threat. It’s up to you now to decide if the people you love are worth more than saving the Multi-verse.” **

“DON’T DREAM! HE’LL JUST KILL US THE MINUTE-”

Killer hit Cross once more, this time before Cross finished speaking. He appeared dazed now as he hung limply on Horror’s never ending grip, but he did not give in. “Don’t do it. Don’t. Please don’t…”

How perfect. Whether or not Cross realized this, he was literally make Dream suffer the more he spoke. Nightmare knew that he had Dream where he wanted him, but the questioned remained on what Ink was going to do.

“So…basically you threatened Pal and beat the daylights out of Cross to get Dream here? And now you’re threatening to kill them both in order to get Dream’s soul?” Ink tilted his head, mostly saying these words to himself as he thought out loud. Nightmare hated it when Ink started pondering. A chaotic and brash Ink was hard enough to handle, but this? Ugh. If Nightmare did have lips, he would be biting them nervously.

“I mean, I guess it could work. Considering how vulnerable Dream gets when it comes to emotional conflict. Me? I don’t care about Cross though.”

“You don’t care about anything,” Dream said, still keeping his eyes focused on Nightmare.

“You’re right Dream. I don’t,” Ink said as he continued staring at Nightmare. Nightmare did not like how they were communicating toward each other. They may not like each other on the romantic sense anymore, but they were still compatible teammates when it came to being guardians of their respectful domains. ‘**_They’re planning something.’_**

“Still, there is the principal of things. _You _tried to hurt Palette on purpose. _You_ threatened my kid. _My kid_. Frankly? I don’t give an entire AU about Dream wants to do at this point.” He walked forward slowly, taking both Nightmare and Dream off guard. “I mean, who would I be if I let you go around and hurt _my kids_? A pretty bad parent if you ask me and I don’t intend to have that reputation. So now”-Ink’s eye-light’s were now changing to a red skull and a red lock-on sign as he walked faster toward Nightmare while pulling out his brush- “I’m going to kick your ass, like a good parent does.”

Nightmare realized in horror that Ink must have taken the red paint just before revealing himself, and was just waiting to the paint to kick in. He struck out with tentacles, attempting to grab and restrain Ink before the skelinkton moved any further, but strings, out of nowhere, shot into view and wrapped tightly around his tentacles. Blue strings to be more precise. Nightmare looked up above him and saw Error just barely hanging out of the portal. The glitch grinned as he wrapped his strings around Horror, Killer, and Cross. He pulled Cross into the Anti-void safely and out of the way while attempting to strangle Killer and Horror.

Ink charged forward, summoning paint from his now unsheathed brush, creating a swirl of red ink to strike Nightmare with. Nightmare panicked, instantly withdrawing himself into a shape of a ball before dodging the attack. Then he merged into the shadows of the room, stay out of eyesight.

Killer managed to twist himself around the strings and pull out his knife. Cutting the strings on both him and Horror, he quickly landed on his feet and ran straight for Ink, leaving Horror dazed and confused on the ground while rubbing his neck. Dream summoned his bow and lined his aim at Killer, but someone attacked him in the back. Murder had come from the corner of the room and summoned a barrage Blasters and bones at Dream. Nightmare wasn’t surprised; after all, he put Murder there in the event that something might go wrong. Dream was struck with a few of the bones before leaping out of the way from other attacks. Despite the severe pain that the attacks put him through, Dream was too focused on Murder to be worried about it. Murder was about to strike once more if another skeleton hadn’t appeared from Error’s portal and landed between Murder and Dream. Blue, the infamous Swap Sans and member of the Stars Sans, joined the battle. He summoned bones of his own to deflect the others and throw Murder off balance.

“Blue!? What are you doing here?” Dream cried out in shock.

“Ink invited me! I’ll explain later, when this is all over. For now, go after your brother! I got this guy”, Blue shouted to him before facing Murder with a serious expression. Murder braced himself before striking out at the small skeleton, but Blue easily deflected the attack before counterstriking.

Dream, seeing that Blue had everything under control, maneuvered his way around the fighting to go after Nightmare. Nightmare bared his teeth. He knew that Dream would not allow others to get involved in such ‘family matters’. It was always personal between Dream and Nightmare, ever since the famous incident. Ink, however, seemed to have brought a whole army to his cause, much to Nightmare’s annoyance. Who else would come jumping through that portal next? Nightmare didn’t know. He disliked the way things were going.

Ink and Killer was practically dancing with each other, with Ink using his ink and brush in his battle choreography while Killer effortlessly dodged each attack and continued slashing with his knife without losing his balance. Dream managed to get close to where Nightmare was hiding at, which was in the darker parts of the throne room. Drawing back his bow, Dream cautiously stepped around carefully without going too far into the shadows. Nightmare smiled.

**“You know, it’s not too late. We can still have that truce, if you so want.” **

“You have nothing to barter with,” Dream said, more as a statement than anything else. He held his bow steady, ready to strike at anything that came close to him.

**“Oh dear brother, you are sorely mistaken. Just because you saved your dearly beloved Cross doesn’t mean that your son will be spared.”** Dream froze in his tracks, clearly distracted. Nightmare moved along the shadows, pleased at this. **“In fact, I may just go there myself. Right after I defeat you.”** He summoned his tentacles and shot them straight up to the ceiling, breaking it into large pieces. The broken pieces fell down and buried Dream underneath rock, dirt, and cement.

Ink was having a harder time fighting now that Horror had recovered and tag-teamed with Killer. Ink was force to focus on defensive tactics while Killer and Horror rained attack after attack on Ink. Error stood by, as if waiting for a sign to jump in. Clearly he didn’t want to get involved any further than he already was. Blue was fighting his best against Murder, but he was starting to lose ground. Blue was a great fighter; good thing that Murder was an excellent one.

Nightmare took the chance and struck out and grabbed at Error with a few of his tentacles. Error, not expecting the sudden ambush, was quickly pulled out of the portal and flung to the ground ruthlessly. Dream had managed to dig himself out of the rubble, to which Nightmare used this time to throw Error at the positive guardian. Once Error collided with Dream harshly, they both rolled onto their sides, stunned. Nightmare turned his attention to Ink, and struck out at the artist with razor sharp tentacles. Ink barely dodged in time but not without cutting holes open his clothing and causing scratches in them. Nightmare attempted to attack Ink once more, but agonizing static noises were erupting behind him. 

The now livid glitch got straight up onto his feet and summoned his strings everywhere, grabbing and ensnaring anything that came to close to them. Many of them landed on Nightmare, gripping his body and soul, while the others rounded up Killer and Horror, causing them to ‘hang out’. Ink, realizing that both of his opponents had been detained, looked over to Nightmare, then to Error.

“Don’t kill him!”

“I know!” Error responded, growling.

Ink noticed that Blue was still in slight trouble with Murder, so he drank some more various paints from his vials and summoned a giant ball of goo. He whacked the ball straight at Murder, catching the deadly skeleton off guard. Murder dodged quickly but landed ungracefully on the floor. While Murder was scrambling to get up, Dream and Blue took this rare opportunity to tag team their attacks. Blue swung at Murder with the summoned bone in his hand; however Murder managed to dodge in time. Dream then aimed and shot Murder with the magic blue arrow, pinning the skeleton’s shoulder against the floor successfully. Dream then directed his gaze at Nightmare. He walked toward his brother with a calm demeanor; however Nightmare didn’t have to read his feelings to know that Dream was anything but calm.

Error fixed the strings so that the brothers would face each other. Dream glared at Nightmare, and Nightmare glared back. “Here’s the deal, dear brother. You don’t mess with Palette again. You don’t mess with Cross again. You don’t mess with me again. Leave my family alone and I’ll leave you alone. Deal?”

Nightmare said nothing.

“I can’t hear you,” Dream growled.

Nightmare frowned back, his cyan eye glaring dangerously. Then he smiled. **“Now Error, when are you going to learn that your strings have no affect on me?”**

Nightmare then _slid_ out of the strings like butter on a warm day. This took the quartet by surprise, giving Nightmare enough time to grab Killer, Horror and Murder and warp away to another part of the Multi-verse. This left the others in the castle unfortunately, but Nightmare can always return when they left. He knew that the Star Sans would try to stay in his castle of terror and try another ambush. They wouldn’t be able to stay forever…and Nightmare was a very patient monster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Killer belongs to @rahafwabas  
Horror belongs to @sour-apple-studios  
Murder belongs to @ask-dusttale
> 
> Blue, aka Swap, belongs to....everyone? The AU community?


	6. Spending The Day with Ink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the confrontation in Nightmare's Castle, Dream fears for Palette's safety. Despite the reality of this fear, Palette rather not have them hanging around him.

“I don’t need your protection!” Palette cried out, which seemed to be tenth time in the last few minutes. Dream stood there, his face stern and his arms flailing as he spoke back. “You do! I get that you don’t like me right now, but you’re not able to fend off Nightmare. He will come here and kill you, and there’s nothing you can do about it on your own!”

“I don’t hate you! Not at all! It’s just that I shouldn’t even be involved in this mess! I’m on the neutral side, remember?”

“I can’t help that, Pal! It’s happened and now we need to deal with it!”

“I was always at risk, Dad! It’s always been this way! That didn’t mean for you to treat me like a baby and shelter me for the rest of your life. Oh, excuse me, I meant my life since you’re practically immortal!”

Dream fell silent. He gritted his teeth in frustration before leaving the house through the front door. “I care about your well-being; therefore I am staying here for the time being. Your father will be here when I am not able. And that’s final!” Dream said as he closed the door behind him.

Palette groaned in frustration. He turned to Goth, who was sitting in the loveseat calmly. Goth had watched the argument in silence, not saying a single word during the entire fight. Now that Dream left, Goth had plenty to say. “He means well, Paly. And I agree with him. Nightmare is a very vindictive monster and will, no doubt, try to kill you or hold you hostage again. I don’t want that to happen.”

Palette had slump his shoulders upon hearing this. He knew that Dream meant well. He also knew how high the probability of Nightmare coming here and torturing him was. That being said, it wasn’t the issue that Palette had a big problem with. What was the problem, you ask? Palette didn’t know either, to be frank. Still, the idea of his parents staying in the same house as him and his husband did not spark enthusiasm.

He walked over to Goth and sat beside him. Leaning against Goth with his right side, he nuzzled his face into the groove of Goth’s neck and stayed there, not moving. Goth let out a sigh as he leaned closer to Palette.

“What’s the matter, Paly? Are you upset about Nightmare?” Goth asked.

Palette managed a shrug despite being so close to Goth.

“Is it about your parents?”

Palette hesitated. He wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that.

Now Palette loved his parents with every fiber of his soul. There was no question of that. Palette didn’t get to see his parents often, and he did feel jealous when other children like Blueprint and Gradient would spend time with Ink, but that didn’t make him angry at them. He understood that they were guardians which meant that Dream and Ink had to make a lot of personal sacrifices for the greater good. That also meant Palette needed to stay in the Doodle Sphere, in Ink’s abode, and be a good kid while they traveled to different AUs, which sometimes took days on end because time was never the same in each of the worlds they visited. He didn’t mind though. It made sense to not bring your kids to possibly dangerous worlds and situations. Whenever they returned, they would always shower him with hugs, treats, and presents.

Still, just because you love someone doesn’t mean that you can tolerate their presence. Palette couldn’t comprehend why, but he had felt very distant from them as of late. This strange sensation started before the incident, so he was sure that the whole ordeal was not the sole cause. The best that Palette can recollect this first happening was when he was about ten years old. Back then, he felt more inclined to leave his home in the Doodle Sphere and go explore the other worlds.

Ink was fine with it; in fact, he was thrilled that Palette wanted to explore the AU’s and their timelines. It brought a feeling of pride to Ink that his son wanted to know more about the Multiverse and the inhabitants within. Dream, however, was against it.

“You can’t go out on your own, Pal! It’s too dangerous!” Dream had said, and that was that. It was the first time that Palette felt truly resentful of his parents: at Dream for not letting him go and at Ink for not standing his ground. It didn’t feel fair! Many of the other children were allowed to go explore the AUs but he wasn’t? Why? Why was he the exception?

For a while, Palette listened. He didn’t want to disobey his parents and disappoint them. Then one day, Ink told Palette that they would be gone for a long time and, if Palette wanted to, he could stay with Geno in the Save Screen. That’s when he got the terrible idea. Palette had told Ink that he was going to go to the Save Screen in a little while; once his parents were gone, Palette decided to try warping to the other worlds. As long as he didn’t get caught by his parents and stayed in the nice and happy AUs, he would be okay!

Palette warped to Haventale first, as he knew that was only pacifist timelines there. He had been there once before so he assumed it would be easier to warp there then the other places. He was wrong. When he arrived, he was utterly exhausted and passed out. When Palette woke, he was resting on the couch in the living room of Haven San and Haven Papyrus’ house. He was given hot chocolate, a dish of Papyrus’ spaghetti, and some warm cotton gloves for his hands. Later he played out in the snow, talked to everyone he found, and got lots of flower crowns from everyone he met!

Then he tried his hand at going to Outertale, and he passed out once more. When he woke, he had some type of mud clung to his clothes. He wasn’t paying too much attention to his wardrobe though. Instead, his eyes were staring off to the distant space, gaze upon the small stars and faraway rocks that littered the entirety of space. He didn’t know how long he was staring at the stars, but it was long enough to catch someone’s attention.

Error’s to be more precise.

He was captured in an instant, not being able to battle well against a veteran fighter like Error. He was pulled into the Anti-void, and hanged from the ceiling in the very strings that captured him. Error stood there, talking with the hallucinations and ultimately deciding what to do with the tiny abomination while Palette began panicking. Then Ink showed up.

It turned out that Ink had been looking for Palette for a long time. It started with a phone call with Geno to see how Palette was doing. “I haven’t seen Palette recently. I didn’t know he was coming over,” Geno said. Ink just assumed that Palette decided to stay in the Doodle Sphere. It was only when Haven Sans had called to let him know that Palette was okay and safe that told the skelinkton that something was wrong. 

After Ink rescued Palette, he dragged his son back to the house in the Doodle Sphere, where Dream was waiting for them to return. Dream was not happy and Ink was not amused. Finally, Palette was grounded for a month without any form of entertainment whatsoever.

Despite everything that happened, Palette was happy that he left home that day. It was exhilarating! Being on his own like that, without his parents, Geno, and Death watching his every step, was a whole new experience. It felt that he was free! He never snuck out of the house again…but he had wanted to. He wanted to feel that experience again and again! Palette didn’t understand why he felt this way for a while, but he did. Even now, that he was stuck in the Save Screen, he didn’t feel that restriction that he did when he lived with his parents.

Because of what has happened recently, Dream and Ink was now staying with him and Gothy. They would be taking shifts to guard the both of them - as there was no way either of them would be able to get along for long periods of time anymore. He hated it. It felt that he was constricted once more in Error’s strings, close to be crushed to dust.

“I don’t know why I’m upset Gothy…I just am though,” Palette admitted.

Goth let out a deep breath, relaxing his body and cuddling Palette with a hug. They sat there like that, not wanting to move or do anything else really. Just be there and being together seemed to be the only thing that mattered.

* * *

“Mmh! This is really good! You outdone yourself again, Palette!” Ink said as he chomped down on some ramen. The compliment didn’t faze Palette however. It wasn’t as though the noodles were fresh made or anything of that nature.

First Palette put some water in a pot and put it on the stove. Then he added broth and seasoning to water to give it some flavor, added some ramen noodles packs that Goth had gotten from a name-brand store, and cooked the noodles until they were tender. That was how Palette made tonight’s dinner.

Palette and Goth sat next to each other and ate in silence. They normally didn’t do this, but Ink had pretty much controlled the entire conversation to himself and about anything he wanted to talk about. “This reminds me of that time I was in a Japanese themed AU, and everyone was wearing those kim…kimo…”

“Kimonos,” Gothy reminded Ink quickly before slurping some more noodles. Palette was having a harder time eating his food, since food would often pour out of his mouth when consuming anything. He learned to always use a straw when drinking any water or other liquids and to cut his food into easy to chew pieces.

“Yeah! That was it! And those other types but I can never remember the names. Either way, they had some of the best ramen around! You could even see the way that made them too! Like those doughnuts in that one doughnut shop! I can’t remember the name of the shop either but the doughnuts are sooo goooood! There are so many types and flavors of them too, so it’s like a candy shop. Only doughnuts instead of candy…well I guess coffee too. I never understood why coffee always goes with doughnuts. You know what else I never understood? Why police officers are always associated with doughnuts and coffee. I mean, I guess the coffee would keep them awake during those stakeouts but the doughnuts? The glaze would get all over their fingers! ”

Ink continued talking, sometimes speaking with his mouth full as he ate. The entire dinner was uncomfortable, at least for Palette and Goth. It was as though they heard the most confusing and stupid documentary ever made.

After dinner, Palette went on to get a shower and get ready for bed while Goth and Ink moved the low table away from the couch, pulled out the mattress and frame from inside, and put the sheets on Ink’s temporary bed. Whether or not Ink was planning on getting any sleep was a subject that Goth and Palette was not ready to ask of Ink, and thankfully Ink did not bring it up. Afterwards, Goth headed upstairs to help Palette, get his shower, and both of them went to bed for the night.

However, nobody rested. It started with Ink going upstairs and shaking Palette gently.

“Hey Pal, can I ask you a question?”

Palette was still very drowsy, but managed to open his eyes and look at his dad. “What is it, Dad?”

“Can I invite Error over?”

“…Why?”

“So we can have sex on the couch.”

Palette appreciated Ink’s honesty, but he wasn’t ecstatic about the question. “No Dad, you cannot invite Error over to have sex on the couch.”

Ink nodded, than left the room. About an hour later, Ink woke Palette once more and asked another question.

“Can I invite Blue over?”

“Why?”

“So we can make things like friendship bracelets and talk about random stuff.”

“…Fine. Just do it quietly.”

Ink left right after that, made a phone-call right outside the bedroom door, then walked back in to let Palette know that Blue was too busy to come by. Sometime later, Ink walked back into the room and sat down beside the bed on Palette’s side, staring at his son with a emotionless stare. Palette was still awake at this time and rolled over to see the stare that haunted many monsters at night; Palette was however use to this expression.

“I’m bored.”

“I’ve noticed, Dad.”

“Can we hangout?”

Palette turned and looked over at Goth, but there was no telling if Goth was actually asleep or secretly praying for Ink to shut up and leave the both of them alone. Palette sighed and turned back over, saying, “Okay. I’ll be downstairs in a little bit. Just hurry out of here before Gothy wakes up.”

Ink nodded and left the bedroom first, giving Palette enough time to quickly get dressed and put on his house shoes. After limping down the stairs carefully and quietly, Palette noticed that Ink was sitting down at the table with two cups of hot chocolate. The cups had marshmallows on top that was slowly melting, making the hot chocolate richer with flavor. Palette sat beside him while Ink pushed one of the cups to Palette as an offering.

“I’m so bored, Palette.”

“I know.”

“There’s nothing to do here!”

“I mean, there are all those puzzles that Blue gave us, not to mention the video game systems and normal television.”

“I already did the puzzles while you were asleep. I don’t like video games. I only watch Undernovela and that’s when I am with Error. ”

Palette sighed. Yes, it did not take long for Ink to do most types of brain teasers, from Rubik’s cubes to jigsaw puzzles. It was like second nature to Ink, as Ink could tell what to do base on the way the puzzle was made or colored. The more unique it was made or the more colors it had, the more invested Ink became with the puzzles. Blue was thrilled when he heard about this fact, and as such made it a personal challenge to stump Ink with the most exciting and difficult puzzles. So far, Ink had managed to outwit the Magnificent Sans but the game was still afoot!

On the other hand, there were some puzzles that Ink never attempts or finishes. Sci – perhaps the smartest scientist or Sans that had ever been created – often experimented with certain puzzles to analyze the behavior of many ‘Sans’ and how they differ from each other, specifically with the more powerful and/or unique ones, and Ink was no exception. The scientist quickly found out that unless the puzzle had some sort of color on it, Ink would not touch it. This included milk puzzles, which Sci found to be too much for Ink to handle on his own.

As for technology, it was more of a kryptonite for Ink rather than a help. While Ink knew the basics of how to call someone and send a text, use a television and remote, and other simple things of that caliber, the rest seemed too complicated for Ink to understand. As much as he loved digital art, he was not very good at making it as it requires a lot of attention and patience (also having the knowledge of using the said programs makes a world of difference).

“Can’t you just draw pictures? Maybe paint some of your other drawings?” Palette asked earnestly.

“I did,” Ink said, sipping his hot chocolate idly. Palette narrowed his eyes in suspicion before he turned around and noticed the couch. The makeshift bed was littered with art supplies, drawings, and paintings. Clearly, Ink ran out of inspiration at the moment and was currently looking for more. Normally, Ink would leave and go somewhere else for more art ideas but that was not option at the moment.

“I don’t know what else to say. We don’t have much else in here, except the books.”

“I don’t want to read them.”

“I know. I know,” Palette sighed once more. Ink loved stories, but not the small print words over hundreds of pages. If Ink read anything, it was for informative reasons or whatever plot convenience that one of the creators had in mind for their story. Palette only knew this because it was Dream or Geno that would read to him at bedtime. Ink, instead, would make up stories in his head from the spur of the moment and create elaborate adventures, which Dream did not appreciate because it made Palette much more excited than sleepy.

Palette and Ink both sat there, drinking in silence. Palette had thought about tricking his dad in leaving the house and then going back to his bed, but he could already see the multiples scenarios where that would end badly. There wasn’t anything else that Ink saw interest in though, besides just talking. What would they even talk about? Ink had pretty interesting stories, no doubt, but Palette didn’t have anything to input. He spent his days in the Save Screen, in this house or in Geno’s, and either hanging out with Goth and the Afterdeath family or spending it alone. Whatever Palette had to say wouldn’t interest Ink at all, not with all the wonderful and exciting escapades that his dad went through on a daily basis. Something had to give though, as the tension between the both of them was growing.

“…What did you draw?” Palette asked while his cup sat empty in front of him.

Ink was slightly surprised – mostly because he was pondering something – but swallowed the rest of his beverage with ease. “Mostly Error and Blue. I like how symmetrical Blue’s face is and how diverse Error’s eyes are. There are some sketches with Geno and the rest of his family, and of Goth as well. I did try drawing you but I couldn’t get the edges right on your face.

“I thought about doing one big family portrait, with you and Goth at the center, with me and your siblings standing behind you while Goth’s family would be standing beside him. Error and Blue would be there too! Cross would make a nice addition too but he might be on the edge of the portrait.”

“What about Dream?” Palette asked.

“…What about him?”

“Wouldn’t Dream be in the picture too? You know, he is my dad too.”

“…I guess. I don’t wanna draw him,” Ink said, pouting a little.

Palette’s eye socket twitched just a little, but turned his gaze away. “I don’t see why it’s such a problem. You use to before you two got a divorce,” Palette had mumbled under his breath. He hadn’t expected Ink to hear him.

His head was suddenly jerked around to face Ink’s. The stare that Ink wore was unsettling to look at, the whites appearing emotionless as Ink studied Palette’s face. Palette wanted to turn his head away, but Ink’s hand had firmly gripped Palette’s chin and gave no indication of turning lose soon. Ink watched Palette closely, thinking carefully, before asking, “Are you still mad about Dream and I getting divorced?”

Palette grimaced under the gaze, but he answered, “Yes”.

Ink let go of Palette, but he had continued to look at Palette for a little while longer. Then he grabbed the empty cups before getting up from the chair. He carried the cups over to the sink, paused, and then asked, “Do you want some more hot chocolate?” Palette shook his head. He was too nervous from the sudden change in conversation to have anything else to drink. Ink set the cups in the sink before returning to his chair.

“I didn’t want to be married to Dream anymore. I really didn’t.”

Palette’s face fell just a little when Ink said these words.

“It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision to get a divorce, you know. It was a long time in the making. I wanted to leave when you were about…five? Maybe four? I don’t remember exactly, but it was when you were still very young. If it hadn’t been for you, I would have left a long time ago.”

“What do you mean?” Palette asked. The only thoughts that had swirled in his head up to now was that he was the reason that his parents got a divorce, or he had contributed to it in some way. It never dawned on him that he kept his parent’s marriage together. Palette had sincerely thought that he made everything worse.

“Well…I guess the only reason I got married was because Dream insisted. You just been born in the Multiverse when we first found you, still an infant really. You weren’t very big, just smaller than a football. It took a little but we found a cardboard box lying around unused, so I made some blankets and we set you inside to sleep. I was going to drop you off at Blue’s house, like I did with Blueprint. I knew Blue would love you and take care of you, and Blueprint always enjoyed being around his siblings. It would have also been less trouble on me and Dream as well. I thought it was a win-win situation.

“Dream wanted something else though. He couldn’t stop watching over you, even as you slept. When you woke up, he was the first one there and never hesitated to pick you up and comfort you. He would hug and cuddle you for hours at a time. He loved you the minute he found you and he still does. I didn’t know about it before…but he had wanted a family. Deep down, he thought that he could have that family with his brother and with you. He wanted that picture perfect family so desperately. So he asked me to marry him.

“I didn’t know what to say at first. I mulled it over for a few minutes before saying yes. I thought marriage would be a cool idea to try out. Dream was affectionate enough and I liked being around his positivity. The sex was really good too! Oh boy, let me tell you! To this day, I never have seen anybody bend the way Dream could-“

Palette did not want to hear about his parent’s sex life and his expression clearly showed it. Ink cleared his nonexistent throat before speaking again.

“Anyway, Dream and I liked being around each other then. I thought being married would be interesting to try out. So we got hitched. We didn’t bother with a wedding or any of that nonsense. We just got before an official person, with Blue as our witness, and said, ‘I do’.

“I did not realize that there was so much responsibility involved in being married! I figure it was just an official title and all I had to do was have sex with Dream and only with Dream. I was wrong. Next thing I knew, Dream insisted that we needed a house, so I made one in the Doodle Sphere. Then he wanted me to have a schedule, get some type of financial security, and other stuff like that. If I known that was so much work involved, I would have never said yes! There was so much that Dream wanted and I had no interest in it.

“It wasn’t just that either. Dream didn’t want just the sex. He wanted someone to love him and respect him for who he was rather than his title. He wanted romance and…I didn’t. I can’t love him, or anybody else. No matter how much positivity you can get, it’s not enough to be called love.”

“Because love is a neutral feeling, neither positive nor negative.”

“Right. I am a soulless being. I cannot care about anything or anyone around me. Not Dream. Not Error. Not even you. The only reason I even have emotions are because of my vials”- he gestured to the signature paint belt that hung around his body- “but that isn’t enough. My interest is always changing and, no matter what, I am always looking for something new and exciting. That wasn’t what Dream wanted…or what you needed.”

Palette had listened carefully to the entire explanation but, when Ink shifted the topic from Dream to Palette, he started listening more intently to what his dad had to say.

“Despite all the arguments that Dream and I would get into, there was always one thing that he was right about. It was always about what you needed. I admit that I have never been a good dad. Especially to PJ. I don’t resent the way he treats me, mostly because I know I deserve it. I tried to be better about it with your other siblings…but it’s hard! Caring for a kid demands a lot of attention and, to be honest, I’d rather be doing something else. Then there was you. You always had such an innocent creature. You never wanted to hurt anyone. You always thought the best of someone, even Nightmare. There was so much that you needed, and I knew Dream couldn’t handle all of parenting on his own. We wouldn’t have even left you alone for one second if there wasn’t a safety lock around the Doodle Sphere that kept unwanted visitors out.

“Then there was the actual caretaking part. Dream never minded tending to you, but sometimes he would pass out on the couch and not wake up for hours! We had to convince Geno to look after you sometimes because there was no telling when we would come back…or if we did at all. I had wanted to walk away a lot of times. I really did.”

Ink sighed. Palette looked away, disheartened. He didn’t realize that he caused so much trouble for his parents. He wished he could go back in time and fixed it all.

_‘You should have never been born,’ _said a voice inside him. Palette didn’t know exactly where this thought had come from, but he found it hard to argue with it. If he hadn’t been born, no one would have been bothered to look after him. No one would have to change their lifestyles so that Palette would be okay. He was just interfering with everything. If he died, everyone would be free to do what they wanted. His parents, Gothy, and everyone else wouldn’t have to be worried about him. If only he died like he was suppose to-

“Hey! Paly? Are you ignoring me?” Ink asked, gently tapping the top of Palette’s skull to get his attention. Palette was drawn out of his thoughts and looked at Ink with surprise. “Sorry. I was…thinking,” Palette said, hoping that Ink wouldn’t ask much more about it. A question mark had appeared in Ink’s right eye socket for a moment.

“Hmm. Anyway, I would have left if it wasn’t for you. Sure, it was hard but…I liked being around you.”

Palette perked up a little when Ink said this.

“I enjoyed hanging out around you. You never hated me when I left and, when I came back home, you were always so happy to see me! Like a puppy in a weird kind of way.”

Palette chuckled. Ink smiled and continued.

“I remember teaching you how to draw. We made a mess of things but we made some beautiful artwork together. Dream and I still have a few of the pictures you made in our storage. I remember teaching you how to fight. It was so difficult because you always wanted to spare everything and have mercy. I always found it amusing and Dream thought it was adorable. I think we still have some videos of your earlier training sessions, though it was more or less you have conversations with the stuffed dummies.”

They both laughed, feeling more at ease with each other now than before.

“The point I’m trying to make is that you made everything better. You always wanted to draw with me. None of the other kids wanted to hang out with me for so long! Especially PJ! You always wanted to be around me! I never felt so valid in my entire existence! Despite everything bad that was between Dream and I, you made it feel worthwhile. We never found a reason to argue in front of you. We didn’t want that for you. We never wanted you to see the ugliness that the world had to offer for you. Both of us just wanted you to be happy.

“Then you got hurt. You couldn’t come home anymore. You became sick, weak, and easily became upset over the slightest of things. There wasn’t anything I could do to make you feel better. We couldn’t heal you with normal food or with our magic. We couldn’t hug you and make the pain go away like we use to. I couldn’t paint your bones back, not without risking your health outside the Save Screen.”

Palette remembered that day. Ink spent hours and hours trying to paint his bones back. It should have worked, considering that Palette was also a skelinkton as well and Ink done this dozens of times, but it didn’t. Ink eventually gave up and threw one of the worse tantrums that Palette ever seen. Later, Ink had consumed almost all the vials in attempt to feel better but it made the tantrums worse. Death and Dream had to drag Ink out of the void so that Palette could actually rest from the long and disappointing day. Ink did eventually calm down, but it took a long time.

“Things got worse. It was easier to start arguments with Dream. I didn’t want to walk into our house and see all the stuff you left behind. I knew that you hadn’t died…but I also knew that nothing would ever be the same. After all that…it just wasn’t possible for Dream and I to stay married. We only had each other and it wasn’t enough.

“But hey! Things are getting better! I finally got through to Error that not all creation is bad, and Dream found someone else that can give him everything that he wants - well, almost everything. Unfortunately that someone ended up being Cross, but at least Cross seems happy with Dream so it can’t be all bad…”

Palette giggled after that last statement. He couldn’t help it. It was the way that Ink phrased it that made it seem like doom was impeding. Ink noticed the giggle and began laughing himself. Palette laughed alongside his dad with glee, almost the way he used to before.

“What is going on down here?”

Palette and Ink looked toward Goth, who was dressed and ready for his shift. “We didn’t mean to wake you!” Palette exclaimed, feeling guilty, however Goth shook his head.

“You didn’t wake me. The alarm did. I was a little surprised to see you out of bed, Palette, but then I come downstairs and hear laughing? Something good must have happened.”

“I was just making fun of Cross and his stupid decisions,” Ink stated, licking a little bit more of his yellow paint vial to refuel his laughter. Goth smiled and remarked, “Yep. That’s always a good source of comedy.”

Ink’s phone went off with loud chime-like noises, so he excused himself and went into the living room to answer it. Palette smiled, thankful that Ink didn’t say anything more about what they just discussed. He’ll tell Goth all about it later, but for right now his attention went to what Goth was doing.

“Heading off for work?”

“Almost. I got to have some coffee in me before I take off,” Goth said as he went straight for the coffee pot and begin putting together his perfect cup of coffee. “Were you up all night with Ink?”

It occurred to Palette that he spent the better part of the night tending to his dad’s needs rather than sleeping. Still, this fact didn’t bother him so much as one would think. “I think so? It wasn’t as bad as it sounds.”

“Really?” asked Goth as the coffee pot began brewing.

“It was irritating to deal with him at first…but, once we got to talking, it got better. I had forgotten how much I enjoy spending time with him.”

Goth smiled as he leaned back into the counter while looking at Palette with an affectionate smile. Palette tilted his head a little, wondering why Goth was smiling like that. “It’s nice to hear that you two got along all night. I was worried that you would end up in bitter fight with him before the day was over, like you did with Dream.”

Palette groaned, remembering what happened earlier. He knew that he should have gone easier on Dream than he did. Still, it felt like Dream was suffocating Palette more than anything else. Ink didn’t have that sort of parenting style, but Ink did not take any of his responsibilities seriously (except for his role as guardian of the Multiverse).

“That was Dream! He said he couldn’t be by tomorrow. Cross is still in pretty bad shape from whatever beating Nightmare was giving him, so Dream is going to stay another day to tend to those wounds,” Ink explained as he sat back down. He rested his head on his hands and leaned into the table, eager to hear about whatever Palette and Goth was talking about.

Goth quickly grabbed his coffee and left out the door, but not before giving a quick kiss on Palette’s right cheek. Palette couldn’t help but giggle a little, leaving Ink a little confused. Goth was not a morning skeleton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine that its hard talking to your parents after so many years of being isolated from them. 
> 
> For Palette, it feels even more awkward because, even before the incident, Palette always felt suffocated by his parents over protectiveness. Palette can't fully express this because it wasn't all bad. He loves his parents but, sometimes, too much is too much.


End file.
